9ZQ
Keep Your Card in This Pocket
Books will be issued only on presentation of proper
library cards.
Unless labeled otherwise, books may be retained
for four weeks. Borrowers finding books marked, de-
faced or' mutilated are expected to report same at
library desk; otherwise the last borrower will be held
responsible for all imperfections discovered.
The card holder is responsible for all books drawn
on this card.
l( Penalty for over-due books 2c a day plus cost of
notices.
' Lost cards and change of residence must be re-
ported promptly. , , .,
Kansas City, Mo.
Keep Your Car din
She followed Chateaudoux down the winding stairs
and out into the night.
A BOOK OF
AND HURRIED JOUfj&g'EYS
BY
JOHN BUCHAN
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
PREFACE
I HAVE never yet seen an adequate definition of
Romance, and I am not going to attempt one.
But I take it that it means in the widest sense
that which affects the mind with a sense of wonder
the surprises of life, fights against odds, weak
things confounding strong, beauty and courage
flowering in unlikely places. In this book we are
concerned with only a little plot of a great pro-
vince, the efforts of men to cover a certain space
within a certain limited time under an urgent
compulsion, which strains to the uttermost body
and spirit.
Why is there such an eternal fascination about
tales of hurried journeys ? In the great romances
of literature they provide many of the chief dra-
matic moments, and, since the theme is common to
Homer and the penny reciter, it must appeal to a
very ancient instinct in human nature. The truth
vi PREFACE
seems to be that we live our lives under the twin
categories of time and space, and that when the
two come into conflict we get the great moment.
Whether failure or success is the result, life is
sharpened, intensified, idealized. A long journey
eveti with the most lofty purpose may be a dull
thing to read of, if it is made at leisure ; but a
hundred yards may be a breathless business if only
a few seconds are granted to complete it. For then
it becomes a " sporting event," a race ; and the
interest which makes millions read of the Derby
is the same in a grosser form as that with which
we follow an expedition straining to relieve a be-
leaguered fort, or a man fleeing to sanctuary with
the avenger behind him.
I have included " escapes " in my title, for the
conflict of space and time is of the essence of all
escapes, since the escaper is either pursued or in
instant danger of pursuit. But, as a matter of
fact, many escapes are slow affairs and their in-
terest lies rather in ingenuity than in speed. Such
in fiction is the escape of Dantes in Monte Cristo
from the dungeons of Chateau d'lf, and in history
the laborious tunnelling performances of some of
the prisoners in the American Civil War. The
PREFACE vii
escapes I have chosen are, therefore, of a special
type the hustled kind, where there has been no
time to spare, and the pursuer has either been
hot-foot on the trail or the fugitive has moved
throughout in an atmosphere of imminent peril.
It is, of course, in the operations of war t that
one looks for the greater examples. The most
famous hurried journeys have been made by sol-
diers by Alexander, Hannibal, and Julius Csesar ;
by Marlborough in his dash to Blenheim; by
Napoleon many times ; by Sir John Moore in his
retreat to Corunna; by a dozen commanders in
the Indian Mutiny ; by Stonewall Jackson and
Jeb Stuart in their whirlwind rides ; by the fruit-
less expedition to relieve Gordon* But the opera-
tions of war are a little beside my purpose. In
them the movement is, as a rule, only swift when
compared with the normal pace of armies, and the
cumbrousness and elaboration of the military
machine lessen the feeling of personal adventure.
I have included only one march of an army Mon-
trose's, because his army was such a little one, its
speed so amazing and its purpose so audacious,
that its swoop upon Inverlochy may be said to
belong to the class of personal exploits. For a
vin
PREFACE
different reason I have included none of the mar-
vellous escapes of the Great War. These are in a
world of their own, and some day I may make a
book of them.
I have retold the stories, which are all strictly
true, using the best evidence I could find and, in
the case of the older ones, often comparing a dozen
authorities. For the account of Prince Charlie's
wanderings I have to thank my friend Professor
Rait of Glasgow, the Historiographer Royal for
Scotland. My aim has been to include the widest
varieties of fateful and hasty journey, extending
from the hundred yards or so of Lord Nithsdale's
walk to the Tower Gate to the 4,000 miles of
Lieutenants Parer and M'Intosh, from the ride
of the obscure Dick King to the flights of princes,
from the midsummer tragedy of Marie Antoinette
to the winter comedy of Princess Clementina.
J. B.
CONTENTS
I. THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 13
II. THE RAILWAY RAID IN GEORGIA .... 39
III. THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES AFTER WOR-
CESTER 57
IV. FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA ..... 91
V. THE ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD. . 119
VI. Two AFRICAN JOURNEYS ..... 169
VII. THE GREAT MONTROSE 193
VIII. THE FLIGHT OF LIEUTENANTS PARER AND
M'lNTOSH ACROSS THE WORLD ... 223
IX. LORD NITHSDALE'S ESCAPE 237
X. SIR ROBERT GARY'S RIDE TO EDINBURGH . . 251
XI. THE ESCAPE OF PRINCESS CLEMENTINA . . 265
XII. ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD .... 283
LIST OF PLATES
She followed Chateaudoux down the winding stairs and
out into the Bight Irontispiece
Penderel took alarm and splashed through the water,
followed by his King 64
Then another man joined the first, lit a cigar, and
the two walked off together 100
A storm and a glimpse of two war-ships forced them
to land 136
He and his two horses did an average of not less than
eighty miles a day ....... 184
Across the moor they saw two figures advancing . 208
A crowd of Arabs approaching with obviously hostile
intent 232
The sentries in the dim light were unsuspicious and
let them pass 248
I
THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES
THE FUGH1 TO VARENNES
I
OK the night of Monday, 20th June, in the year 1791,
the baked streets of Paris were cooling after a day of
cloudless sun. The pavements were emptying and the
last hackney coaches were conveying festive citizens
homewards. In the ,Rue de PEchelle, at the corner
where it is cut by the Rue St. Honor6, and where the
Hotel de Normandie stands to-day, a hackney carriage,
of the type which was then called a " glass coach,"
stood waiting by the kerb. It stood opposite the door
of one Ronsin, a saddler, as if expecting a fare ; but
the windows were shuttered, and the honest Ronsin
had gone to bed. On the box sat a driver in the
ordinary clothes of a coachman, who while he waited
took snuff with other cabbies, and with much good-
humoured chaff declined invitations to drink.
The hour of eleven struck ; the streets grew emptier
and darker; but still the coach waited. Presently
16
16 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
from the direction of the Tuileries came a hooded lady
-with two hooded children, who, at a nod from the
driver, entered the coach. Then came another veiled
lady attended by a servant, and then a stout male
figure with a wig and a round hat, who, as he passed
the sentries at the palace gate, found his shoe-buckle
undone and bent to fasten it, thereby hiding his face.
The glass coach was now nearly full ; but still the
driver waited.
The little group of people all bore famous names.
On the box, in the driver's cloak, sat Court Axel
Fersen, a young Swedish nobleman who uad vowed
his life to the service of the Queen of France. The
first hooded lady, whose passport proclaimed that she
was a Russian gentlewoman, one Baroness de Korff,
was the Duchess de Tourzel, the governess of the royal
children. The other hooded lady was no other than
Madame Elizabeth, the King's sister, One of the
children was the little Princess Royal, afterwards
known as the Duchess d'Angouleme ; the other, also
dressed like a girl, was the Dauphin. The stout gentle-
man in the round hat was King Louis XVI. The
coach in the Rue de 1'Echelle was awaiting the Queen.
For months the royal family had been prisoners in
the Tuileries, while the Revolution w^rched forward*
(2,809)
THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 17
in swift stages. They were prisoners in the strictest
sense, for they had been forbidden even the customary
Easter visit to St. Cloud. The puzzled, indolent king
was no better than a cork tossed upon yeasty waters.
Mirabeau was dead Mirabeau who might have saved
the monarchy ; now the only hope was to save the
royal family, for the shades were growing very dark
around it. Marie Antoinette, the Queen, who, as
Mirabeau had said, was " the only man the King had
about him," had resolved to make a dash for freedom.
She woul<J leave Paris, even France, and seek her
friends beyond the borders. The National Militia and
the National Guards were for the Revolution ; but the
army of Bouill6 on the eastern frontier, composed
largely of German mercenaries, would do its general's
orders, and Bouill6 was staunch for the crown. Count
Fersen had organized the plan, and the young Duke
de Choiseul, a nephew of the minister of Louis XV.,
had come to Paris to settle the details. A coach had
been built for the journey, a huge erection of leather
and wood, of the type then called a berline, painted
yellow, upholstered in white velvet, and drawn by no
less than eleven horses. It was even now standing out-
side the eastern gate, and Fersen was waiting with Ma
hacfcaev carriage to conduct the royal fugitives thither.
18 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
But where was the Queen ? Marie Antoinette,
dressed as a maid and wearing a broad gipsy hat,
had managed to pass the palace doors ; but rumours
had got abroad, and even as she stood there leaning
on a servant's arm the carriage of Lafayette dashed
up to the arch, for he had been summoned by the
Commandant, who represented the eyes of the National
Assembly. The sight flurried her, 'and she and her
servant took the wrong turning. They hastened to-
wards the river, and then back, but found no waiting
coach.
The chimes struck midnight, and at long last Persen
from the box in the Rue de 1'Echelle saw the figure
which he knew so well, the lady in the gipsy hat who
was the Queen. The party was now complete. The
door was shut ; the driver plied his whip, and the
coach started northward through the sleeping city,
Up the street where Mkabeau had lived they went,
till in the Rue de dichy the coachman stopped to ask
a question at a house about the great berline. He was
told that it had left half an hour ago. The carriage
then turned eastward and passed through the eastern
gate. There stood the berline, with two yellow liveried
gentlemen of the Guard to act as postilions.
The % King and Queen, the two children, Madame
THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 19
Elizabeth, and the so-called Baroness de Korff, free
now from the cramped hackney coach, reclined at
ease on the broad cushions. The hackney coach was
then turned adrift citywards, and was found next
morning upset in a ditch. Again Count Fersen took
the reins, and as the eastern sky was paling to dawn
they reached the end of the first stage, the post and
relay station of Bondy.
Fresh horses were waiting and fresh postilions, and
one of the gentlemen-in-waiting took Fersen's place on
the box. Fersen walked round to the side where the
Queen sat and took a brief farewell. Marie Antoin-
ette's hand touched his and slipped upon his finger a
broad ring of very pale gold. The young Swede turned
and rode towards Bourget and the highway to Brussels*
so passing out of the history of France.
n
Daylight broadened and the great berline rumbled
along the highroad, being presently joined by a cab-
riolet carrying two of the Queen's maids and a collec-
tion of baggage. The royal farnily, no longer drowsy
in the fresh morning air, fell into good spirits. A
matter of an hour and a half had been wasted at the
20 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
start, Tbut now the coach travelled briskly at a speed
of something like seven miles an hour. They be-
lieved the escape to have already succeeded, and talked
happily of their plans. Soon the suburbs and the
market gardens were left behind, and long before they
reached the posting station of Meaux they were in a
land of deep meadows and cornfields.
Their plan was to go by way of Chalons, Ste. Mene-
hould, and Clermont to Varennes, where Bouill6 would
await them. But meantime cavalry patrols from
Bouille's army were to come west into Champagne and
be ready at each stage to form up behind and make
a screen between them and their enemies. The weak
points of the scheme are clear. Had the, royal family
divided itself and gone by different routes to the fron-
tier in humbler equipages there would have been little
risk of capture. But a coach so vast as the new
yellow berline was bound to excite inquiry as soon
as it left the main highways and entered the side roads
of Champagne and the Argonne. Moreover, the cav-
alry patrols of Bouille, most of them Germans, would
certainly rouse comment and suspicion, for the folk
of the little towns as far as the Meuse were vehement
for the Revolution. These clumsy contrivances were
sops to the King, who had as little ingenuity and
THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 21
imagination as he had resolution. Had Marie An-
toinette and Fersen had a free hand they would have
planned differently.
At Meaux the travellers were in the rich Marne
valley, and presently they turned off the main road
which runs by Epernay, and struck across the table-
land, made famous by the late war, where flow the
streams of the Grand and Petit Morin. They had a
picnic breakfast in the coach, drinking from a single
loving cup, and using their loaves as platters on which
to cut the meat. All were very happy and at ease.
The children walked up the long hill from the Marne
valley. At the post-houses the King got out to stretch
his legs and talk to the bystanders. It was a risky
business, for the face of the man in the round hat was
on every Treasury note. Louis was indeed recognized*
- At a place called Viels Maisons a postilion recognized
him but said nothing ; it was not his business, he
argued in true peasant fashion.
It grew scorchingly hot, and the wide grassy fields
slumbered under a haze of heat. About two they
reached a place called Chaintrix, where, in the post-
house, was one Vallet, who had been in Paris. He
Baw and recognized the king and told the news to his
father-in-law, the postmaster. Both were enthusi-
22 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
astic royalists, but it is probable that the news spread
to some who were not, and news flies fast through a
countryside. This Vallet was indeed a misfortune, for
he insisted himself on riding with the leaders, and
twice let the horses down, so that another hour at
least was wasted.
About four o'clock in the afternoon the berline, ac-
companied by the cabriolet, reached Chalons. Here
secrecy was obviously impossible, for it was a big town
filled with people who had seen both King and Queen.
But these townsfolk did not seek trouble for them-
selves ; it was not their business to stop their Majesties
if they had a fancy for a jaunt to the east. It would
seem that one man at least tried to force their hand,
and, finding he could do nothing with the municipal
authorities, galloped on ahead, passing the coach as it
halted at the foot of a hill, and carrying the news to
more dangerous regions. But at any rate the berline
was now free of Chalons, which had been considered the
main danger, and a straight lonely road led for twenty-
five miles through the Champagne Pouilleuse to Ste.
Menehould at the foot of the Argonne. In seven or
eight miles they would be at the tiny bridge of Somme-
Vesle, where the infant trickle of the river Vesle ran
in a culvert below the road. There stood a long farm*
THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 23
house close up to the kerb, and nothing else could be
seen in the desolate grey-green countryside. On the
Chalons side there was a slight rise and beyond that a
hill, so that dwellers at the post-house had no long
prospect of the road to the west. Had the configura-
tion of the land been otherwise, history might have
been written differently.
Now at Somme-Vesle the first of Bouill6's cavalry
guards were to meet and form up behind the King.
The posse was under the Duke de Choiseul, and con-
sisted chiefly of German mercenaries. It professed to
be an escort for a convoy of treasure, but the excuse
was lame. What treasure could be coming that way,
and if it was a cavalry patrol from BouiMs army,
why was it flung out towards the base and not towards
the enemy ?
According to the time-table drawn up by Fersen
and Choiseul, the King would arrive at Somme-Vesle
at one o'clock. Choiseul, with his half-troop of Ger-
man hussars, arrived in time and waited anxiously
through the grilling afternoon. Long afterwards he
told the story to Alexandre Dumas, the novelist. At
first, apart from^his fifty mercenaries, there was no
one there except the jostlers in the post-house and a
few peasants in the fields. Presently suspicion grew.
24 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
The peasants began to leave their work and crowd
round the hussars till the soldiers were greatly out-
numbered. There was some trouble afoot with the
tenants of a neighbouring landowner, and it was be-
lieved that ChoiseuTs men were there to exercise force.
Word came that the neighbouring villages were rising,
for the Revolution had made almost every village a
little military post.
The long dusty road remained baked and empty,
and the barren downs seemed to swim in the after-
noon glare. The road was silent, but not so the neigh-
bourhood of the post-house. Peasants crowded round
with questions. Why did not the foreigners unsaddle ?
Why did they not ride down the road to meet their .
treasure ? Presently the rumour spread, Heaven knows
how ! that the Bang was expected to pass, and the
crowd became greater. Choiseul sat on his horse
through the sultry hours till he looked at his watch
and found that it was five o'clock.
Clearly the King had not started at all. That
seemed the only sane conclusion. He gave the order
to wheel about and return. He had fresh horses put
into his own travelling carriage and gave a note for
the officers in command at Ste. Menehould and Cler-
mont, mentioning that he doubted whether the treasure
THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 25
would come that day. Then he took his hussars back
along the road they had come, and at the hamlet of
Orbeval turned to the left into the Argonne forest in
case his appearance in Ste. Menehould should arouse
suspicion. By a little after half-past five the last
hussar had gone, the peasants had moved off to supper,
and the white road was again deserted.
A quarter of an hour later the berline arrived. The
King, who was following the road with a map and a
guide-book, asked the name of the place and was told
Somme-Vesle. Remembering that there Choiseul was
to have met them, doubt for the first time seems to
have fallen upon the little party. That quarter of
an hour, as it turned out, was to be the difference
between success and failure.
in
It was now early evening, and with fresh horses the
berline rolled through the pastures and lanes to where,
with the setting sun upon them, rose the woody ridges
of the Argonne. Just below the lift of the hills lay
Ste. Menehould. At the hour of sunset its streets had
the pleasant stir which evening brings to a country
town. Men and women were gossiping and drinking
26 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
outside their doors. There was a handful of French
dragoons under Captain Dandoins in the place, sent
by Bouille", and at the door of the post-house stood one
Jean Baptiste Drouet who had once been a dragoon
in the Conde regiment. He was a dark, loutish fellow,
saturnine of face, still young, very strong, active and
resolute. He was a fervent patriot, too, and that
afternoon he had heard strange rumours coming from
the west. As he saw the cabriolet enter with its moun-
tain of bonnet boxes, and then the huge berline with
its yellow-liveried guards, he realized that something
out of the common was happening. The green blinds
were up to let in the evening air, and the faces of both
King and Queen were plain to the onlookers. The
berline did not halt, but rumbled over the bridge of
Aisne, and up into the high woods. But Drouet had
seen enough to make the thing clear to him. The
King and Queen were in flight ; they were going to-
wards Metz !
The ex-dragoon was a man of strong resolution and
quick action. The drums were beat ; Dandoins and
his troop were arrested and disarmed, and with an
other old dragoon of Cond6, one Guillaume, an inn^
keeper, Drouet set off hell-for-leather on the trail.
The great coach with its eleven horses and i1^ yellow-
THE PLIGHT TO VARENNES 27
liveried guards on the rumble, climbed slowly up to
the summit of the Argonne ridge. There were about
400 feet to climb, and it was some four miles to the
crest. After that came the little village of Islettes
in a hollow, and then a stretch of four miles to the
town of Clermont in the valley of the river Aire.
There the royal road must turn at right angles
down the Aire to Varennes, which lay nine miles off,
a flat straight road in the valley bottom. Drouet and
Guillaume had the last two horses left in Ste. Mene-
hould, and the berline had an hour's start of them.
They believed that the King was going to Metz, and
that what was before them was a stern chase on
the highroad.
The berline reached Clermont about twenty minutes
to ten. At Clermont there were royal troops, and
Drouet had no notion how to deal with them ; but
he hoped somehow to raise the people in the town
on his sMe. The occupants of the berline had now
lost all their high hopes of the morning. They realized
that they were late and that somehow their plans
were miscarrying, and they were in a fever to get past
Varennes into the protection of Bouille's army. It
took a quarter of an hour to change horses at Cler-
mont, and then about ten o'clock the Metz road was
28 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
relinquished and the great vehicle lumbered off at its
best pace down the Aire valley.
About the same moment Drouet and Guillaume
came within a mile of Clermont. The night had grown
very dark and cloudy, though there was somewhere a
moon. They heard voices and discovered it was the
postilions from Ste. Menehould turning homewards.
These postilions had a story to tell. The berline was
not on the Metz road. They had heard the orders
given to turn northward to Varennes.
Drouet was a man of action, and in a moment his
mind was made up. He must somehow get ahead of
the royal carriage which was on the road in the valley
below. The only chance was to cut off the corner
by taking to the woody ridge of the Argonne which
stretched some 300 feet above the open plain. Now
along that eastern scarp of the Argonne runs a green
ride which had once been a Roman road. He and
his companion galloped through the brushwood till
they struck the ride.
It was, as Carlyle has called it, " a night of spurs.' 5
Three parties were straining every nerve to reach
Varennes : the anxious King and Queen in the great
berline, jolting along the highway ; the Duke de Choi-
seul, who had taken a short cut from Somme-Vesle,
THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 29
avoiding Ste. Menehould, plunging with his hussars
among the pathless woods ; and Drouet and Guillaume
making better speed along the green ride, while from
the valley on their right the night wind brought them
the far-off sound of the Kong's wheels. There seemed
still a good chance of escape, for at Varennes was
Bouille's son with more hussars, waiting in that part
of the village which lay east of the Aire bridge.
Seven miles after he left the highway Drouet came
to an ancient stone set up in the forest which bears the
name of the Dead Girl a place only too famous in the
Argonne fighting in the Great War. There he took
the green ride to the right, and coming out of the
woods saw the lights of Varennes a little before him.
The town seemed strangely quiet. He and Guillaume
had done eleven miles of rough going within an hour ;
now it was only eleven, and as they stopped to rest
their panting beasts they listened for the sound of
wheels. But there was no sound. Had the berline
with its fateful load beaten them and crossed the bridge
into the protection of Bouille's men ?
30 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
IV
Drouet rushed into the taverns to ask if any late
revellers had seen a great coach go through. The
revellers shook their heads. No coach that night had
passed through Varennes. Suddenly came a cry, and
he looked behind him up the long hill of the Clermom
road. There, on the top, were the headlights of the
coach. It halted, for it was expecting Bouille's escort.
The Clermont postilions were giving trouble ; they
declared that they were not bound to go down the hill,
for the horses were needed early next morning to
carry in the hay. At last the coach started, and the
creak of its brakes could be heard on the hill. Drouet
ran into the inn called " The Golden Arm," crying on
every man who was for France to come out and stop
the berline, since inside it was the King.
There was only one thing for him to do, to hold the
bridge over the Aire. Now, at the bridgehead stood a
great furniture van without horses, waiting to start for
somewhere in the morning. Drouet and his handful
of assistants pulled it across the bridge and blocked
the approach. Meantime one Sausse, a tallow chandler
and the procurator of the town, had appeared on the
THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 31
scene, and seen to the rousing of every household on
the west side of tjhe river.
Half-way down the hill to the bridge the road goes
through an archway under an old church. At that
archway the only two men of the company who had
arms took up position, and when the berline arrived
challenged it and brought it to a stand. Passports
were demanded, and as the Baroness de Korff fumbled
for them the Queen looked out of the window. She
begged the gentlemen, whoever they might be, to get
the business over quickly, as "she was desirous of
reaching the end of her journey as soon as might be/'
It was an ill-omened phrase which was long remem-
bered.
Meantime the two armed men had increased their
numbers, and some of Bouill6's German hussars joined
the crowd, more or less drunk. The cabriolet had
also been stopped and the maids in it hustled into the
inn. But it seemed that the passports were in order,
and the Varennes officials were prepared to let the
coach continue on its way. It was the crisis of the
French monarchy. Escape seemed once more certain,
when Drouet intervened. He knew that Bouille's son
was waiting beyond the river, and that Bouill6 himself
would arrive soon after dawn with ample forces. What
32 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
lie sought to gain was time ; on no account must the
King cross the Aire till morning.
The embarrassed officials yielded to his threats and
fury. " If there is any doubt/' said the procurator,
" it will do no harm to wait for daylight. It is a dark
night and the beasts are tired." He would endorse
the passports in the morning. He assisted the King
and the Queen to alight, and escorted them to his
own house. Hope was not yet wholly gone, for there
were still Choiseul and his hussars blundering through
the Argonne woods. Meantime the fierce Drouet had
had the tocsin sounded and every soul in Varennes
was in the streets, waiting on some happening, they
knew not what.
Just about dawn Choiseul arrived with his German
troopers. He saw what was astir, and had he had
Frenchmen in his command all might have been saved.
He urged them to rescue the King, and ordered them to
charge to clear the streets, which they did, and formed
up outside M. Sausse's house, in which Marie Antoin-
ette and her two children were lying huddled on
truckle beds. Outside was the perpetual noise of drums
and men ; every one who could find any kind of
weapon trooped up to it and thronged the square.
Meantime, young Bouilte across the river had heard
THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 33
the tocsin, and, being uncertain what to do, had re-
turned to Ms father.
When the morning light broadened the whole neigh-
bourhood was gathered outside the procurator's house.
M. Sausse, a devotee of official decorum, felt compelled
to endorse the passports and let the royal family con-
tinue their journey. But Drouet had other views, and
these views were shared by the crowd in tlie streets.
Choiseul, had his mercenaries been of any value, had
still the game in his hands. For the second time he
ordered them to charge. But the German hussars,
comprehending nothing except that there was a large
number of formidable citizens opposed to them, sat
still on their horses. The King in his green coat ap-
peared at the window of his lodging and was greeted
with cheers and with something else which meant the
ruin of his hopes, for the mob of ten thousand with
one voice shouted, " Back to Paris ! "
About six o'clock there arrived at Varennes two
men from the Council in Paris, Bayon and Romeuf.
They had ridden madly all day and night, and had
brought a demand from the Council for their Majesties'
immediate return. The Queen was furious, and flung
the message on the ground. But the King had made
up his mind. He had had enough of this undignified
34 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
secrecy and uncomfortable jolting. He would go back
to Paris to the people with, whom he was so popular.
Indeed, he had no other choice. The advance guards
of Bouill6's horse were even then appearing on the
heights behind the Aire, but there were 10,000 men
in Varennes, and nothing but artillery could have
cleared the place. Bouille, even had he been in
time, could have done nothing. When, about seven
o'clock, the royalist general himself looked down on
the bridge, he saw a cloud of dust on the Clermont
road which told him that the berline had begun its
return journey, accompanied by thousands of march-
ing citizens. The adventure was over* What had
seemed so certain had shipwrecked on a multitude
of blunders, and the strange perversities of fortune.
The King and Queen were returning to a prison from
-which there was to be no outlet but death.
What of the young Swede, Count Axel Fersen, whom
we last saw at Bondy receiving from Marie Antoinette
the broad gold ring ? The lovers of queens have for
the most part been tragically fated, and his lot was no
exception to the rule. It is hard for us to-day to
THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES 35
judge of the charm of Marie Antoinette ; from her
portraits her figure and features seem too heavy,
though her hair and colouring were beautiful ; but
she seems to have had a share of that inexplicable
compelling power which certain women have possessed
Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, Mary of Scots, Elizabeth
of Bohemia which makes men willing to ride on their
behalf over the edge of the world. Fersen, who had
worshipped her at first sight when a boy in his teens,
was to spend the nineteen remaining years of his life
a slave of tragic and tender memories. After her
death he became a " fey " man, silent, abstracted,
grave beyond other men, and utterly contemptuous of
danger, one like Sir Palamede
" Who, riding ever through a lonely world,
Whene'er on adverse shield or helm he came
Against the danger desperately hurled,
Crying her name."
He rose to be a famous soldier and marshal of the
Swedish armies, and at the age of fifty-five was con-
fronted with a riot in Stockholm. Inside the church
,of Riddenholm were the nobles of Sweden, barricaded
and safe ; outside on the steps he stood alone, having
been dragged from his carriage, his sword in his right
36 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
hand and on bis left the ring of the Queen of France,
which the people of the North believed to be a thing
of witchcraft.
For a little he held the steps, for no man dared come
within the sweep of his terrible sword or the glow of
his more terrible ring. At last some one thought of
stones. They were flung from a distance, and pre-
sently he was maimed and crushed till he died. Then,
and not till then, the mob came near his body, shield-
ing their eyes from the gleam of the ring. One man,
a fisherman, Zaffel by name, took his axe and hacked
the finger off while the crowd cheered. Averting his
head he plucked at the thing, and, running to the
river bank, flung it far into the stream.
The rest of the story of the ring is as wild a legend
as ever came out of the North. It is said that Zaffel,
going fishing next morning after the fury of the riots
was over, came into a lonely reach of water and
found his boat standing still. He looked up at the
masthead, and there, clasping it, saw a hand lacking
one finger. The mutilated hand forced the boat for-
ward against tide and wind, and when he tried the
tiller he found that the tiller had no effect upon the
course. All day he sat in the boat shivering with
terror, till in the cold twilight he saw in front of him
THE FLIGHT TO VAREOTES 37
a white rock in the stream and upon a ledge of it
Fersen's ring. He took it and glanced up at the
masthead. The hand had now recovered its lost
finger and had disappeared, and his boat was free
once more to obey his direction.
In the early dawn of the next day he was back at
Stockholm, babbling nonsense and singing wild songs,
beyond doubt a madman. At that moment in the
Riddenholm church the nobles, who had left Fersen
to die, were gathered round his coffin in the act of
burial. Suddenly something glimmered in the dark
folds of the pall, and they saw with terror that it was
the Queen's ring. When the coffin was lowered into
the grave the gravediggers dared not fling earth upon
the jewel. They feared that the dead man's spirit
would haunt them, so they gave the ring to Fersen's
family, with whom it remains to this day.
II
THE RAILWAY RAH) IN GEORGIA
THE RAILWAY RAID IN GEORGIA
THE time is the spring of 1862, the second year of
the American Civil War. The scene is the State
of Tennessee; the Confederates are concentrating at
Corinth, Mississippi, and the two Northern forces of
Grant and Buell are moving on that spot. A month
before Grant had won the important action ol Fort
Donelson. A month later he was to win the battle of
Shiloh.
In BuelPs army was General 0. M. Mtchel, com-
manding the Northern forces in Middle Tennessee and
protecting Nashville with a force of some 17,000 men.
Now, President Lincoln especially desired that Eastern
Tennessee should be cleared of the enemy, since it was
one of the latter's chief supply grounds. General
Mitchel believed that Corinth would soon fall, and that
the next movement would be eastward towards Chat-
tanooga, that key-point on the Tennessee river which
was later the scene of one of Grant's most famous
41
42 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
victories. He thought, rightly, that if he could press
into the enemy's country and occupy strategical points
ahead, he would pave the way for Grant's march
eastward.
On the 8th of April the Northerners won the battle
of Pittsburg Landing. Next day Mitchel marched
south from Shelbyville into Alabama and seized Hunts-
ville. From there he sent a detachment westward to
open up communication with the Northern troops at
Pittsburg Landing. On the same day he himself took
another detachment seventy miles by rail and arrived
without difficulty within thirty miles of Chattanooga,
two hours from the key position in the West, There,
however, he stuck fast, and the capture of Chattanooga
was delayed for two years. He failed because another
plan had failed, the plan which is the subject of this
story.
Chattanooga at the moment was practically without
a garrison ; but in Georgia there were ample Confederate
troops, and the Georgia State Railway and the East
Tennessee Railway could bring them up in great
force at short notice. If Mitchel was to seize and
hold Chattanooga these lines must be cut for long
enough to enable him to consolidate his position.
Now, in his army was a certain spy of the name of
THE RAILWAY RAID IN GEORGIA 43
James J. Andrews, one of these daring adventurers
who, in a civil war of volunteers, many of whom were
as yet without regular uniforms, could perform exploits
impossible in a normal campaign. Andrews conceived
the idea of a raid on the Confederate railways, and
Mitchel approved. Before he left Shelbyville he
authorized Andrews to take twenty-four men, enter
the enemy's territory and burn the bridges on the vital
railways.
The men were selected from three Ohio regiments,
and told only that they were required for secret and
dangerous service. They exchanged their uniforms
for the ordinary dress worn by civilians in the South,
and carried no arms except revolvers. On the 7th
of April, by the roadside a mile east of Shelbyville,
in the late evening, .they met Andrews, who told them
his plan. In small detachments of three or four they
were to go east into the Cumberland Mountains and
work southward, and on the evening of the third day
rendezvous with Andrews at Marietta in Georgia,
more than 200 miles distant. If any one asked them
questions they were to declare that they were Ken-
tuckians going to join the Confederate army.
The weather was bad and the travellers were much
delayed by swollen streams. This led Andrews to
44 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
believe that Mitchel's column would also be delayed,
so he sent secret word to the different groups that the
attempt would be postponed one day, from Friday to
Saturday, 12th April. Of the little party one lost his
road and never arrived at the destination ; two reached
Marietta, but missed the rendezvous; and two were
captured and forced into the Confederate army.
Twenty, however, early on the morning of Saturday,
12th April, met in Andrews' room at the Marietta
Hotel.
They had travelled from Chattanooga as ordinary
passengers on the Georgia State Railway. The sight
of that railway impressed them with the difficulties
of their task, for it was crowded with trains and
soldiers. In order to do their work they must capture
an engine, but the station where the capture was to
be made Big Shanty had recently been made a
Confederate camp. Their job was, therefore, to seize
an engine in a camp with soldiers all round them, to
run it from one to two hundred miles through enemy
country, and to dodge or overpower any trains they
might meet no small undertaking for a score of men.
Some were in favour of abandoning the enterprise, but
Andrews stuck stubbornly to his purpose. He gave
his final instructions, and the twenty proceeded to the
THE RAILWAY RAID IN GEORGIA 45
ticket office to purchase tickets for different stations
on the line to Chattanooga.
For eight "miles they rode in comfort as passengers,
till at Big Shanty they saw the Confederate tents in
the misty morning. It had been a drizzling April
dawn, and a steady rain was now beginning. The train
stopped at Big Shanty for breakfast, and this gave them
their chance, for the conductor, the engine-driver, and
most of the passengers descended for their meal,
leaving the train unguarded.
Among the twenty were men who understood the
stoking and driving of railway engines, and it did not
take long to uncouple three empty vans, the loco-
motive, and the tender. Brown and Knight, the two
engineers, and the fireman climbed into the cab, and
the rest clambered into the rear goods van no easy
job, for the cars stood on a high bank. A sentry with
rifle in hand stood not a dozen feet from the engine,
watching the whole proceedings, but no move was made
until it was too late. Andrews gave the signal, the
wheels slipped at first on the greasy metals, and then
the train moved forward ; and before the uproar in the
station behind began it had gathered speed.
The first and worst problem was the passing of
trains coming from the north. There were two trains
46 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
on the time-table which, had to be passed at certain
stations, and there was also a local goods train not
scheduled, which might be anywhere. Andrews hoped
to avoid the danger of collision by running according
to the schedule of the train he had captured, until the
goods train was passed, and then to increase to topmost
speed till he reached the Oostenaula and Chickamauga
bridges, burn them and pass on through Chattanooga
to Mitchel as he moved up from Huntsville. He hoped
to reach his chief early in the afternoon,
It was a perfectly feasible plan, and it would almost
certainly have been carried out but for that fatal day'a
delay. On Friday, the day originally fixed, all the
trains had been up to time, and the weather had been
good ; but on that Saturday, as luck would have it,
the whole railway was in disorder, every train was late,
and two " extras " had been put on, of which the
leader had no notion. Had he known this, even a man
of his audacity would scarcely have started, and the
world would have been the poorer by the loss of a
stirring tale.
The party had to make frequent stops, particularly
between stations, to tear up the track, cut the telegraph
wires, and load on sleepers to be used for bridge burn-
ing ; and also at wayside stations to take on wood and
THE RAILWAY RAID IN GEORGIA 47
water. At the latter Andrews bluffed the officials by
telling them that he was one of General Beauregard's
officers, and was running a powder train through to
that General at Corinth. Unfortunately he had no
proper instruments for pulling up the rails, and it was
important to keep to the schedule of the captured train,
so they tore light-heartedly past towns and villages,
trusting to luck, and exhilarated by the successful
start of their wild adventure.
At a station called Etowah they found the " Yonah,"
an old engine owned by an iron company, standing
with steam up ; but their mind was all on the local
goods train, so they left it untouched. Thirty miles
on from Big Shanty they reached Kingston, where a
branch line entered from the town of Rome. On the
branch a train was waiting for the mail that is to say,
their captured train and Andrews learned that the
local goods was expected immediately ; so he ran on
to a side track, and waited for it.
Presently it arrived, and to the consternation of the
little party it carried a red flag to show that another
train was close behind it. Andrews marched boldly
across to its conductor and asked what was the meaning
of the railway being blocked in this fashion when he
had orders to take the powder straight through to
48 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
General Beauregard ? In reply he was told that Mitchel
had captured Huntsville and was said to be marching
on Chattanooga, and that everything was being cleared
out of that town. Andrews ordered him to move his
train down the line out of the way, and he obeyed.
It seemed an eternity to the party before the
" extra " arrived, and to their dismay when it turned
up they saw that it bore another red flag. The reason
given was that it was too heavy for one engine and had
therefore to be made up into two sections. So began
another anxious wait. The little band Andrews
with the engine-drivers and fireman in the cab, and
the rest taking the place of Beauregard's ammunition
in the goods vans had to preserve composure as best
they could, with three trains clustered round them
and every passenger in the three extremely curious
about the mysterious powder train into which the
morning mail had been transformed. For one hour
and five minutes they waited at Kingston, the men in
the goods vans being warned by Andrews to be ready
to fight in case of need. He himself kept close to the
station in case some mischief-maker should send an
inquiring telegram down the line. At long last came
the second half of the local, and as soon as it passed
the end of their side track the adventurers moved on.
THE RAILWAY RAID IN GEORGIA 49
But the alarm had now been raised behind them.
From the midst of the confusion at Big Shanty two
men set out on foot along the track to make some effort
to capture the Northerners. They were railwayman
one the conductor of the train, W. A. Fuller, and the
other a foreman of the Atlanta railway machine shops,
called Anthony Murphy. They found a hand-car and
pushed forward on it till they reached Etowah, where
they realized that the line had been cut by pitching
headforemost down the embankment into a ditch.
A little thing like this did not dismay them, and at
Etowah they found the " Yonah," the iron company's
old locomotive which, as we know, was standing with
steam up. They got on board, filled it up with soldiers
who happened to be near, and started off at full speed
for Kingston, where they were convinced they would
catch the filibusters. The " Yonah " actually entered
Kingston station four minutes after Andrews had
started, and was qf course immediately confronted
with the three long trains facing the wrong way. It
would have taken too long to move them, so the
" Yonah " was abandoned, and Murphy uncoupled the
engine and one coach of the Rome train, and continued
the chase. It was now any one's race. Andrews and
his merry men were only a few minutes ahead.
50 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Four miles north from Kingston the little party
again stopped and cut the wires. They started to take
up a rail and were pulling at the loosened end when
to their consternation they heard behind them the
whistle of an engine. They managed to break the rail
and then clambered in and moved on. At the next
station, Adairsville, they found a mixed goods and
passenger train waiting, and learned that there was an
express on the road. It was a crazy risk to take, but
they dared not delay, so they started at a terrific
speed for the next station, Calhoun, hoping to reach
it before the express, which was late, could arrive.
They did the nine miles to Calhoun in less than nine
minutes, and saw in front of them the express just
starting. Hearing their whistle it backed, and enabled
them to take a side track, but it stopped in such a
manner as to close the other end of the switch. There
stood the two trains side by side almost touching each
other. Naturally questions were asked, and Andrews
was hard put to it to explain. He told the powder
story, and demanded in the name of General Beaure-
gard that the other train should at once let him pass.
With some difficulty its conductor was persuaded, and
moved forward.
They were saved by the broken rail. The pursuit)
THE RAILWAY RAID IN GEORGIA 51
saw it in time and reversed their engine. Leaving
the soldiers behind, Puller and Murphy ran along the
track till they met the train which Andrews had
passed at Adairsville. They made it back in pursuit,
and at Adairsville dropped the coaches and continued
with only the locomotive and tender, both loaded
with a further complement of armed soldiers. They
thought that their quarry was safe at Calhoun, but
they reached that place a minute or two after Andrews
had moved out.
Everything now depended on whether the band of
twenty could make another gap in the track in time,
for if they could the road was clear before them to
Chattanooga. A few minutes ahead of them was the
Oostenaula bridge, and if that could be burned they
would soon be safe in Mtchel's camp.
But the mischief was that they had no proper tools,
and the taking up of the rails was terribly slow. Once
again they heard the whistle of a locomotive behind
them and saw their pursuer with armed men aboard.
Another minute would have removed the rail, and their
victory would have been assured ; but they could do
nothing more than bend it, and were compelled to
hurry back to their engine.
Now began one of the most astounding hunts on
52 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
record. At all costs Andrews must gain a little time
so as to set fire to the Oostenaula bridge; so he dropped
first one car and then another. The pursuing engine,
however, simply picked them up and pushed them
ahead of it. There was no time to do anything at the
bridge. Over its high trestles they tore, with Fuller
and his soldiers almost within rifle shot.
Soon it appeared that there was no difference in
the pace of the two engines. The Confederates could
not overtake the filibusters, and Fuller's policy was
therefore to keep close behind so as to prevent Andrews
damaging the track and taking on -tfood and water.
Both engines were driven to their last decimal of power,
and Andrews succeeded in keeping his distance. But
he was constantly delayed, for he was obliged to cut
the telegraph wires after every station he passed, in
order that an alarm might not be sent ahead ; and he
could not stop long enough to tear up rails.
All that man could do in the way of obstruction
he did, for at all costs he must gain enough ground
to destroy the Chickamauga bridges. He broke off
the end of their last goods van and dropped it and
various sleepers behind him, and this sufficiently
checked the pursuit to enable him on two occasions
to take in wood and water. More than once his party
THE RAILWAY RAID IN GEORGIA 53
almost succeeded in lifting a rail, but each lime Fuller
got within rifle range before the work was completed.
Through it all it rained, a steady even-down deluge.
The day before had been clear, with a high wind, and a
fire would have been quick to start, but on that Satur-
day, to burn a bridge would take time and much fuel.
On went the chase, mile after mile, past little for-
gotten stations and quiet villages, round perilous
curves, and over culverts and embankments which
had never before known such speed. Hope revived
whenever the enemy was lost sight of behind a curve,
but whenever the line straightened the smoke ap-
peared again in the distance, and on their ears fell
the ominous scream of his whistle. To the men,
strung to a desperate tension, every minute seemed
an hour. If the Northerners' courage was superb,
so also was the pursuit's. Several times Puller only
escaped wreck by a hairbreadth. At one point a
rail placed across the track at a curve was not seen
until the train was upon it, when, said Fuller, " the
engine seemed to bounce altogether off the track>
and to alight again on the rails by a miracle." A
few of the soldiers lost their nerve and would have
given up the chase, but the stubborn resolution of
thek leader constrained them.
54 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Some of Andrews' party now proposed that they
should turn and ambush the enemy, getting into close
quarters so that their revolvers would be a match for
Ms guns. This plan would probably have succeeded,
but Andrews still hoped to gain sufficient ground to
achieve his main purpose ; and he feared, too, that the
country ahead might have been warned by a telegram
sent round to Chattanooga by way of Richmond.
He thought his only chance was to stake everything
on speed. Close to the town of Dalton he stopped again
to cut wires and confuse the track. A Confederate
regiment was encamped a hundred yards away, but,
assuming that the train was part of the normal traffic,
the men scarcely lifted their eyes to look at it. Fuller
had written a telegram to Chattanooga and dropped
a man with orders to send it. Part of the telegram
got through before the wires were cut and created a
panic in that town. Meantime, Andrews' supply of
fuel was getting very low, and it was clear that unless
he could delay the pursuit long enough to take in more,
his journey would soon come to an end.
Beyond Dalton the adventurers made their last,
efforts to take up a rail, but, as they had no tools except
an iron bar, the coming of the enemy compelled them
to desist. Beyond that was a long tunnel which they
THE RAILWAY RAID IN GEORGIA 55
made no attempt to damage. Andrews saw that the
situation was getting desperate, and he played his
last card.
He increased speed so that he gained some con-
siderable distance. Then the side and end boards of
the last goods van were broken up, fuel was piled upon
it, and fire brought from the engine. A long covered
bridge lay a little ahead, and by the time they reached
it the van was fairly on fire. It was uncoupled in the
middle of the bridge, and they awaited the issue. If
this device was successful there was sufficient steam in
their boiler to carry them to the nest woodyard.
But the device did not succeed. Before the bridge
had caught fire Puller was upon them. He dashed
right through the smoke and drove the burning car
before him to the next side track.
Left with very little fuel and with no obstructions
to drop on the track, the position of the adventurers
was now hopeless. In a few minutes their engine
would come to a standstill. Their only chance was
to leave it and escape. The wisest plan would prob-
ably have been to desert the train in a body, move
northward through the mountains by tracks which
could not be followed by cavalry, and where there
were no telegraphs. But Andrews thought that they
56 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
should separate. He ordered the men to jump from
the engine one by one and disperse in the woods. So
ended in failure a most gallant enterprise.
Melancholy is the conclusion of the tale. Ignorant
of the country and far from their friends, the fugitives
were easily hunted down. Several were captured the
same day, and all but two within the week. As the
adventurers had been in civil dress inside the enemy's
lines they were regarded as spies, court-martialed,
and Andrews and seven others condemned and exe*
cuted. The advance of the Northern forces prevented
the trial of the rest, and of the remainder, eight
succeeded in making their escape from Atlanta in
broad daylight, and ultimately reaching the North.
The others, who also made the attempt, were recap-
tured and held captive till March 1863, when they were
exchanged for Confederate prisoners.
I know of few stories where the enterprise was at
once so audacious and so feasible, where success turned
upon such an infinity of delicate chances, and where
it was missed by so slender a margin.
m
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES AFTER
WORCESTER
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES AFTER
WORCESTER
OK Wednesday, the third day of September 1651,
the army which had marched from Scotland to set
Kong Charles upon the throne was utterly defeated
by Cromwell at Worcester. The battle began at
one o'clock and lasted during the autumn afternoon,
the main action being fought east of the city. Many
of the chief Royalists, like the Duke of Hamilton,
fell on the field. When the issue was clear, Charles,
accompanied by the Duke of Buckingham, Lord
Derby, Lord Shrewsbury, Lord Wilmot, and others,
entered the city by Sidbury Gate. There an ammuni-
tion wagon had been overturned, and this gave check
for a moment to the pursuit. In Friars Street the
King threw off his armour and was given a fresh
horse, and the whole party galloped through the
streets and out at St. Martin's Gate* Charles was
60 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
wearing the laced coat of the Cavalier, a linen doublet,
grey breeches, and buff gloves with blue silk bands
and silver lace. The little party, dusty and begrimed
with battle, galloped to the Barbon Bridge, a mile
north of the city, where they halted for a moment
to plan their journey.
The nearest and most obvious refuge was Wales,
where the country people were Royalist, and where,
in the mountains, Cromwell's troopers might well be
defied. But there was no chance of crossing the
Severn in that neighbourhood, so it was decided to
ride north into Shropshire. Colonel Careless offered
to act as rearguard and stave off the pursuit, and
Mr. Charles Giffard, of the ancient family of the
Giffards of Chillington, who knew the forest country
of the Staffordshire and Shropshire borders, under-
took the business of guide. There was a place called
Boscobel, an old hunting lodge among the woods,
where Lord Derby had already been concealed a few
weeks before, so Giffard and a servant called Francis
Yates (who was afterwards captured by the Crom-
wellians and executed) led the little band through the
twilight meadows.
They passed the town of Kidderminster on their
left, where, at the moment, Mr. Richard Baxter, the
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 61
Presbyterian divine, was watching from an upper
window in the market-place the defeated Royalists
galloping through and a small party of Cromwellian
soldiers firing wildly at the fugitives. The main road
was no place for the King when the bulk of the Scottish
horse was fleeing northward by that way, so he turned
through Stourbridge and halted two miles farther
on at a wayside inn to drink a glass of ale and eat a
crust of bread. After that they passed through the
boundaries of the old Brewood Forest, and at about
four o'clock on the morning of Thursday, 4th Sep-
tember, arrived at the ancient" half-timbered manor
of Whiteladies, belonging to the family of Giffard. A
certain George Penderel was in charge as bailiff, and
at the sight of the party he stuck his head out of the
window and asked for news of the battle. The door
was flung open, and the King rode his horse into
the hall. Charles was taken into the inner parlour,
and George's brothers, William and Richard Penderel,
were sent for. Richard was bidden fetch his best
clothes, which were breeches of coarse green cloth
and a leather doublet. Charles changed into them,
his hair was shorn, and he was now no more the
Cavalier, but a countryman of the name of Will Jones,
armed with a woodbill.
62 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
It would have been fatal for the party to have
remained together, so his companions galloped off in
the direction of Newport, where most of them were
taken prisoner. Lord Derby was captured and after-
wards beheaded; Giffard also was taken, but he
managed to escape, as did Talbot and Buckingham.
Charles was led by Richard Penderel into a wood at the
back of the house called Spring Coppice, where he
had to make himself as comfortable as might be under
the trees.
All that day, Thursday, 4th September, it rained
incessantly. Richard Penderel brought him food and
blankets, and Charles, worn out with want of sleep,
dozed till the dusk of the evening. Then Penderel
aroused him and bade him be going. His proposal
was to guide him south-west to Madeley, wheie there
seemed a chance of crossing the Severn into Wales*
jRIadeley lay only nine miles to the south-west, a
pleasant walk among woods and meadows; but on
that autumn night, with the rain falling in bucket-
fuls and every field a bog, it was a dismal journey
for a young man stiff from lying all day in the
woods, and stayed by no better meal than eggs and
milk. Charles was a hearty trencherman, and had
not trained his body to put up with short com-
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 63
mons. However, he was given some bacon and eggs
before lie started.
The Penderels were Catholics, and men of that faith
were accustomed in those days to secret goings and
desperate shifts, and, since all were half-outlawed,
there was a freemasonry between them. Therefore
Richard proposed to take the King to a Catholic friend
of his, Mr. Francis Wolfe, on the Severn bank, who
might conceal him and pass him across the river into
Wales. That journey in the rain remained in the
Bong's mind as a time of peculiar hardships, though
there seems no particular difficulty in an active young
man walking nine miles at leisure in the darkness.
In after years Charles was a famous walker, and used
to tire out all his courtiers both by his pace and endur-
ance. But on this occasion he appears to have been
footsore and unnerved. When they had gone a mile
they had to pass a water-mill and cross a little river
by a wooden bridge. The miller came out and asked
them their errand ; whereupon Penderel took alarm
and splashed through the water, followed by his King.
After that Charles almost gave up. Lord Clarendon,
to whom he told the story, says that " he many times
cast himself upon the ground with a desperate and
obstinate resolution to rest there till the morning that
64 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
he might shift with less torment, what hazard so ever
he ran. But his stout guide still prevailed with him
to make a new attempt, sometimes promising that the
way should be better and sometimes assuring him
that he had but little farther to go." Charles was
desperately footsore. Perhaps the country shoes of
" Will Jones " did not fit him.
In the small hours they arrived at Mr. Wolfe's
house. Charles waited " under a hedge by a great
tree " while Richard Penderel went forward to meet
his friend. He was greeted with bad news. Every
ford, every bridge, and every ferry on the Severn was
guarded by the Cromwellians, who were perfectly
aware that the King would make for Wales. Wolfe
had " priests' holes " in his house, but he did not dare
to hide the King there, for they had already been
discovered by the soldiers ; so Charles was concealed
among the hay in the barn, where he lay during the day
of Friday the 5th. There was nothing for it but to take
refuge at Boscobel, the hiding-place originally arranged.
That night, after borrowing a few shillings from Wolfe,
the King and Richard set off eastward again, guided
for the first part of the road by Mr. Wolfe's maid.
At Whiteladies they heard that Colonel Careless,; who
was acting as rearguard, had safely reached the Boscobel
Penderel took alarm and splashed through the water,
followed by his King.
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 65
neighbourhood, and that Lord Wilmot was at Moseley,
in Staffordshire, nine or ten miles to the east. All the
country was thick woodland interspersed with heaths,
and few safer hiding-places could be found in England.
Charles was now in better form. The Penderels had
stripped off his stockings, washed his feet and anointed
the blisters. His disguise was also perfected, for
his face and hands had been dyed with juice, and
he made gallant efforts to imitate the clumsy gait of
a yokel. But his disguise can never have been very
perfect. The harsh features, the curious curl of the
lips, the saturnine dark eyes, and above all the figure
and the speech, were not such as are commonly found
among mid-England peasantry.
Penderel did not dare take him into the house, so
he took refuge in the wood, where he was presently
joined by Colonel Careless. On the coast being
reported clear, the King spent the night in one of
the priests' holes in the old manor, an uncomfortable
dormitory, which had, however, a gallery adjoining
it, where he took walking exercise and surveyed the
road from Tong to Brewood. Saturday the 6th was
a fine day, and the King spent some time sitting in
an arbour in the garden. He was presently induced
by Colonel Careless to seek a safer retreat in an oak
66 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
tree in the wood. A little platform was made in the
upper branches, pillows were brought from the house,
and there Careless and the King spent the day. The
Royal Oak is famous in Stuart history, and this particu-
lar tree has long since been hacked to pieces to make
keepsakes for the faithful. But it is by no means
certain that Charles was in particular danger during
the day that he slept in it, or that any Roundhead
trooper rode below the branches and " hummed a
surly hymn." Careless had the worst part of the
business, for the King rested his head in his lap and
the honest soldier's arm went to sleep. " This," in
the words of the Miraculum Basilicon, " caused such
a stupor or numbness in the part, that he had scarcely
strength left in it any longer to support His Majesty
from falling off the tree, neither durst he by reason
of the nearness of the enemy speak so loud as to awake
him ; nevertheless, to avoid both the danger of the
fall and surprise together, he was (though unwillingly)
constrained to practise so much incivility as to pinch
His Majesty, to the end he might awake him to pre-
vent his present danger."
When the dusk came the two descended and
went into the manor-house. There they were met by
the news that the enemy cordon was closing round,
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 67
that 1,000 reward had been put upon the King's
head. Charles, however, was in no way dismayed,
and demanded a loin of mutton. William Penderel
accordingly fetched one of his master's sheep, which
Careless stabbed and cut up with his dagger. The
King made Scotch collops of a hind-quarter, which the
Colonel fried in a pan, and the two had a hearty meal.
The King slept that night in the house in a " priest's
hole," and next day resolved to join Lord Wilmot at
Moseley. He found, however, that his feet were still
so tender that walking was impossible, so an old mill
horse that had carried provisions in the campaign was
found for him. Mounted on this beast, attended by
Careless and the Penderels, the King set out in the
dusk of the Sunday evening. At Moseley he found
Lord Wilmot, and since Moseley was a safer place than
Boscobel the King spent a peaceful night in the house.
There, too, was a priest, Father John Huddleston, and
not far off was Colonel Lane, both devoted Royalists.
There he said farewell to his staunch friends, the
Penderels. The '"King, we are told, spent the evening
by the fire while Father Huddleston attended to his
unfortunate feet. Charles had stuffed his stockings
with paper, but the precaution had not saved him
from further galls and sores. He was given new
68 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
worsted stockings and clean linen and slippers, and
was so much cheered thereby that he declared he was
now fit for a new march, and that " if it should ever
please God to bless him with ten or twelve thousand
loyal and, resolute men he doubted not to drive these
traitors out of his kingdom."
We have this description of Charles on his arrival
at Moseley : " He had on his head a long white
steeple-crowned hat, without any other lining than
grease, both sides of the brim so doubled with handling
that they looked like two spouts ; a leather doublet
full of holes, and half black with grease above the
sleeves, collar, and waist ; an old green woodreve's
coat, threadbare and patched in most places, with a
pair of breeches of the same cloth and in the same
condition, the flaps hanging down loose to the middle
of his legs ; hose and shoes of different parishes ; the
hose were grey, much darned and clouted, especially
about the knees, under which he had a pair of flannel
riding-stockings of his own with the tops cut off. His
shoes had been cobbled with leather patches both on
the soles and the seams, and the upper-leathers so
cut and slashed, to adapt them to his feet, that they
could no longer defend him either from water or dirt.
This exotic and deformed dress, added to his short
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 69
hair by the ears, his face coloured brown with walnut
leaves, and a rough crooked thorn stick in his hand,
had so metamorphosed him, he became scarcely dis-
cernible who he was, even to those that had been
before acquainted with his person.' 5
Next day, Monday, the 8th, it was given out that
Father Huddleston had a Cavalier friend lying privately
in the house, and all the servants were sent away on
errands except the cook, who was a Catholic. Watch
was kept at the different windows in case of any
roving party of soldiers. The King spent the day
largely in sleeping and discussing the future, while
messages were sent to loyal neighbouring squires to
find out the lie of the land. He saw a sad sight from
the windows many starving Royalist soldiers limping
past the door, munching cabbage stalks and corn
plucked from the fields. However, he heard one
piece of news of some importance. Colonel Lane,
who lived five miles off at Bentley, had a sister, Mss
Jane, who had procured a pass from the Governor of
Stafford for herself and her servant to go to Bristol,
and it was thought that if the King passed as her
servant he might thereby get clear of the country.
It was accordingly arranged that on the Tuesday
night Lord Wilmot's horses should fetch the King
70 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
to Bentley as the first stage of Ms journey to the
Bristol Channel.
On the Tuesday afternoon, however, the plan all
but miscarried. A party of soldiers arrived to search
Moseley, and the King was hurriedly hustled into one
of the " priests' holes." The place is still pointed out
a stuffy little nook behind the panelling, through
which liquid food used to be conveyed to the unfor-
tunate occupant by means of a quill through a chink
in the beams. The soldiers made a great row, and
questioned the owner, Mr. Whitgreave, with a musket
cocked at his breast, but in the end departed. When
dusk fell Colonel Lane's horses arrived, and Charles
set out and arrived safely at Bentley. There Colonel
Lane gave him, in place of Will Jones's unspeakable
clothes, a good suit and cloak of country grey, like a
farmer's son, and put 20 in his pocket for the expenses
of the journey.
n
The Kong is now no longer an aimless wanderer among
the Staffordshire woods. A plan of campaign has been
evolved, and the fugitive in a reasonable disguise is
making for the sea. He arrived at Bentley about
midnight on 9th September. The party that set out
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 71
on the 10th. consisted of Miss Jane Lane, her cousin,
Mrs. Petre, Mr. Petre, that cousin's husband, and a
certain Cornet Henry Lassels, also a kinsman. The
Petres were bound for their house at Horton, in Buck-
inghamshire, and proposed to go only as far as Strat-
ford-on-Avon. Charles rode in front as Miss Jane's
servant. The route lay by Bromsgrove and Stratford-
on-Avon, then through Cotswold to Cirencester, and
thence to Bristol.
It was a bold enterprise, for the natural route of
flight after Worcester would be down the Severn
valley to the sea. Cromwell's troopers were in every
parish, and a large part of the population, knowing
of the King's escape . and the reward for his capture,
were on the watch for any suspicious stranger. The
first stop was at the village of Bromsgrove, where the
King's horse cast a shoe. In the smithy Charles, in
his character of servant, asked the smith the news.
" Precious little," was the answer, " except that
Cromwell has routed the Scots. He has slain or
captured most of them, but I hear the King has made
his escape." "Perhaps," said Charles, "the King
has gone by by-ways back into Scotland." " No,"
said the smith, " there is not much luck for him that
way. He is lurking secretly somewhere in these
72 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
parts, and I wish I knew where lie were, for then I
would be the richer by a thousand pounds.' 5
Nothing more happened till they came near Strat-
ford, riding as far as they could by secluded by-ways.
Their plan was to ford the Avon about a mile below
the town ; but when they drew near the river they
observed soldiers' horses feeding in the meadows
and many troopers lying upon the ground. This sight
made them turn to their left so as to enter Stratford
another way. But at the bridge there they ran full
into the same troop of soldiers. The troop opened
right and left to let them pass, and returned the civil
salute which the little party gave them.
They were now among the foothills of Cotswold,
and before evening reached the straggling village of
Long Marston, a place famous for its morrice dancing.
In the village there was a certain Mr. John Tomes,
and in his house the travellers found lodging. The
King, passing as a servant, found his way to the
kitchen, where, like an earlier monarch of England,
he was scolded by the cook because he had no notion
how to wind up a roasting jack. The said jack is
still in existence, and is to be seen in the village.
Meantime Lord Wilmot and Colonel Lane were follow-
ing behind, and the latter turned off towards London,
THE ESCAPE OF KING CEARLES 73
in order to arrange the final details of a pass for " Will
Jackson," which was the name the King had now
adopted.
On Thursday morning, llth September, the travellers
began the ascent into the Cotswold moors. In that
empty country of sheep-walks there was less risk of
detection, and accordingly good speed was made by
Stow-on-the-Wold and along the old Roman Fosse
Way to Northleach and so to Cirencester, where they
arrived in the evening, after a ride of thirty-six miles.
Near the market-place stood the " Crown Inn," an
inconspicuous hostelry, and the travellers, professing
great fatigue, went immediately to bed. In one
chamber a good bed was prepared for Mr. Lassels and
a truckle bed for Will Jackson ; but as soon as the
door was closed the King went to sleep in the good
bed and the Cornet on the pallet.
Next day, Friday, 12th September, the party rode
twenty-two miles south-west to Chipping Sodbury,
probably escorted for part of the way by Captain
Matthew Huntley, an old soldier of Prince Rupert's,
who lived in those parts. They entered the city of
Bristol by Lawford's Gate, rode through the streets,
crossed the Avon by a ferry, and kept the left bank
of the river to the village of Abbots Leigh, three miles
74 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
west of Bristol. Abbots Leigh, which stands high
up on the Downs, was an old Elizabethan house be-
longing to the family of Norton. There the King
was in safe quarters. Miss Jane ordered a bed to be
made for him in a private room, and gave out that
he was the son of one of her father's tenants and was
sick of an ague. A neighbouring Royalist country
gentleman, Dr. Gorge, was called in to prescribe.
Seeing that the party had come from the north,
Gorge asked the King for news of the battle. When
Charles faltered in his answer the doctor accused him
of being a Roundhead. The King denied the charge,
and was there and then compelled to prove his politics
by drinking a glass of wine to his own health.
For four days Charles pretended to be sick and sat
in the chimney corner, while Miss Jane complained
to heaven of the feebleness of her servant. " That
wretched boy will never be good for anything again,"
she told all and sundry. One day the King, while
eating his bread and cheese in the buttery, fell
into talk with a man who had been at Worcester,
and asked him if he had ever seen the King.
" Twenty times," was the answer. " What kind of a
fellow is he ? " The man looked at Charles stead-
fastly. " He is," he said, " four fingers' breadth taller
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 75
than you." At that moment Mrs. Norton passed
and Charles took off his hat to her. The butler, who
had never seen him uncovered, saw something in his
face which he remembered. He took occasion a
little later, when they were alone, to ask if he were
not the King. Charles confessed that he was, and the
butler one John Pope, who had been once a falconer
of Sir Thomas Jermyn, and afterwards a Eoyalist
soldier swore secrecy and fealty. Another person
was now in the plot, and Pope was used as a messenger
to Bristol to find out what ships were sailing. But
the news was bad. No vessel could be obtained there,
and since it was clear that the King could not stay
on at Abbots Leigh, it was resolved to seek the hospi-
tality of Colonel Francis Wyndham, who lived at
Trent on the Dorsetshire borders. The aim was to
reach the south coast, where a smack might be hired
to carry him into France.
Lord Wilmot, who had arrived at Abbots Leigh
soon after the King, was sent off to Trent to inquire
whether the Wyndhams would hide His Majesty. He
brought back a reply that Wyndham " thought himself
extremely happy that amongst so many noble and
loyal subjects he should be reckoned chiefly worthy
of that honour, and that he was ready not only to
76 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
venture Ms life, f amily, and estate, but even to sacrifice
all to His Majesty's service." There was some diffi-
culty about the departure of Miss Jane. The lady
at Abbots Leigh had just had a child and implored
her friend not to leave her. An imaginary letter was
accordingly fabricated, purporting to be from Miss
Jane's father, demanding her immediate return on the
ground of his sudden and dangerous illness.
On the 16th Miss Jane, Lassels, and Charles set
out for Dorsetshire, going first towards Bristol as if
they were returning to Bentley. Presently they
turned the horses' heads south towards Castle Gary,
where they were to sleep the night. The manor
there was occupied by Lord Hertford's steward, one
Edward Kirton, who had been advised by Lord Wilmot
to look out for the travellers. Next day a ride of ten
miles brought the party to Trent, where Colonel Francis
Wyndham and his wife, Lady Anne, were waiting to
receive them. The Wyndhams, as if taking an evening
walk, met their guests before the house was reached.
Miss Jane and Lassels were publicly received as
relations, but Charles was brought secretly into the
old house.
Next morning the King parted with Miss Jane,
who had been the Flora Macdonald of his Odyssey.
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 77
She lived thirty-eight years after that eventful journey,
marrying Sir Clement Fisher of Packington, a Warwick-
shire squire. She became a famous toast to Royalists,
and the many portraits extant reveal a lady of pleasing
aspect, with a certain resolution and vigour in her air.
The King gave her many gifts, the House of Lords
presented her with jewels, and she and all her relations
had royal pensions. Her brother, Colonel Lane, was
offered but declined a peerage. The family were
granted an augmentation to their coat of arms, and
the motto " Garde le Roi " to commemorate their
achievement.
Trent was a good hiding-place and within reasonable
distance of the coast, so that negotiations could be
entered upon for a vessel to carry His Majesty to
France. There Charles stayed several days, livimg
in a set of four rooms, which are still unaltered. One
day the bells of the neighbouring church rang out a
peal, and the Bang sent to inquire the reason for the
rejoicing. He was told that one of Cromwell's troopers
was in the village, who announced that he had killed
Charles, and was even then wearing his buff-coat, and
that the villagers, being mostly Puritans, were cele-
brating the joyful news.
Meanwhile Colonel Wyndham was hunting high and
78 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
low for a ship. He consulted his neighbour, Colonel
Strangways of Melbury, the ancestor of the Ilchester
family; and a certain William Ellesdon, a merchant
of Lyme Regis, was named as a likely person to procure
a vessel, since he had already assisted Lord Berkeley
to escape. Ellesdon suggested a tenant of his, one
Stephen Limbry of Charmouth, the master of a coasting
vessel, and for 60 the latter agreed to carry Lord
Wilmot and his servant to France. Limbry was to
have his long boat ready at Charmouth on the night
of the 22nd.
The next thing was to get rooms at Charmouth for
that night, and Wyndham's servant was sent to an
inn " The Queen's Arms " in that place, with a
tale of how he served a worthy nobleman who was
deep in love with an orphan maid and was resolved
to steal her by night. The romantic hostess believed
the story, and agreed to give them rooms and keep her
tongue quiet. Accordingly Charles set out on the
morning of 22nd September from Trent, riding pillion
with a certain Miss Juliana Comngsby, Colonel Wynd-
ham's pretty cousin, who was to play the part of the
runaway heroine. Colonel Wyndham went as a guide,
and Lord Wilmot and his servant followed behind. On
the way to Charmouth they met Ellesdon, who learned
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 79
for the first time that the King was the fugitive.
Charles made the merchant a present of a gold coin
in which he had bored a hole to wile away the dreary
hours of his hiding at Trent. In the afternoon the
little party rode down the steep hill into Charmouth,
arriving at the inn of the romantic landlady, while
Ellesdon went to hunt up Limbry, the seaman.
It was an anxious moment, for, as luck would have it,
it was market day at Lyme and the inn was crowded.
Lord Wilmot and Miss Coningsby had to live up to
the part of runaway lovers a part in which Charles
would probably have shown more zeal than discretion.
Midnight came, but there was no sign of Limbry.
Wyndham and his servant were out all night on the
quest, but at dawn they returned to report failure.
The first idea was that the man must have got drunk
at the market ; but later the true story came out.
Limbry had gone home to get clean clothes for the
voyage. But that day a proclamation had been made
in the town declaring it death for any person to aid
or conceal the King, and promising 1,000 reward for
his apprehension. His wife, knowing her husband's
practices in the past, accordingly locked him in his
room, and when he would have broken out raised
racket enough to alarm the neighbourhood. The
80 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
prudent man made a virtue of necessity and sub-
mitted.
Here was a pretty kettle of fish. Charles could not
stay at Charmouth, and it was arranged that he and
Mss Coningsby and Wyndham should ride on to
Bridport, while Lord Wilmot and his servant should
remain behind for an explanation with Ellesdon. A
rendezvous was to be made at the "George Inn" at
Bridport. Off went the King, while Lord Wilmot's
horse went to the smithy to be shod. The smith, who
was a stout Cromwellian, began to ask questions.
Whence came these nails if the gentlemen had ridden
from Exeter, for these nails were assuredly put in
in the North ? The ostler in charge of the horse added
that the saddles had not been taken off in the night
time, and that the gentlemen, though travellers, sat
up all night. Clearly they were people of quality
fleeing from the Worcester fight, and probably the
King was among them. The ostler saw a chance of
making his fortune, and marched off to the parsonage
to consult the parson, one Wesley, the great-grandfather
of the famous John. It is interesting to note that
just as Lord Macaulay's great-grandfather did his best
to prevent Prince Charlie's escape, so John Wesley's
great-grandfather came athwart that of King Charles.
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 81
But Mr. Wesley was busy at his morning devotions
and would not move till they were ended. On hearing
the tale he accompanied the ostler to the inn, where,
being apparently a humorist, he thus accosted the
landlady : " Charles Stuart lay last night at your
house and kissed you at his departure, so that now
you can't but be a maid of honour." " If I thought
it was the King, as you say it was," was the answer,
" I would think the better of my lips all th.e days
of my life. Out of my house, Mr. Parson." So Mr.
Parson went to the nearest commanding officer and
got a troop of horse together, who followed what they
believed to be the track of the fugitives along the
London road.
Meantime Charles had arrived at Bridport. The
town was packed with soldiers who had mustered there
for an expedition against the Isle of Jersey. It was no
easy matter to get lodgings at the " George " ; but there
he must go, for it was the rendezvous appointed with
Lord Wilmot. A private room was found with some
difficulty, while the King attended to the horses in
the yard. There he met a drunken ostler who claimed
to have known him in Exeter ; the King played up to
this part and the two made merry together. A hurried
dinner was eaten, for there was no time to linger, and
82 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
us soon as Lord Wilmot had joined them they pushed
on along the London road. A quarter of an hour after
they left the " George" the local authorities arrived
to search it (the news of the Royalists' presence having
come from Charmouth), and more soldiers started in
pursuit. Luckily the King's party resolved to go back
to Trent, and had just turned off the high road when
they saw the pursuit dash past in the direction of
Dorchester.
After that the travellers seem to have lost their
way, but in the evening they found themselves in
the village of Broad Windsor, close to Trent. In
the inn there Colonel Wyndham recognized in the
landlord a former servant and a staunch Royalist,
and there they slept the night. It was a narrow
lodging and much congested with forty soldiers, who
were marching to the south coast on the Jersey
expedition. No untoward event, however, happened,
and next morning the King got back to his old quarters
in Trent, There he lay secure while his pursuers were
laying hands upon every handsome young lady for
forty miles round, under the belief that it was their
monarch in disguise. The honest folk of Charmouth
and Bridport seem to have seen the 'Bang in Miss
Juliana Coningsby, and, indeed, this belief in Charles's
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 83
female disguise was almost universal. There was
another rumour in London that, wearing a red peri-
wig, he had actually got a post as servant to an officer
of Cromwell's army ; and still another, published on
29th September, that he was safe in Scotland with
Lord Balcarres.
m
The problem of escape had now become exceedingly
difficult. It was impossible to stay on the coast,
which was strictly watched, and was, moreover, all in
a bustle with the Jersey expedition. But the coast
was the only hope, and therefore it must be again
visited. The only chance was to make a cast inland
and try for the shore at another point. While at
Trent Colonel Wyndham's brother-in-law, Mr. Edward
Hyde, came to dine, and mentioned that on the previous
day at Salisbury he had seen Colonel Robert Phelips
of Montacute, who could probably get them a vessel
in one of the southern ports. Lord Wilmot was
accordingly sent off next morning to Salisbury to find
Colonel Phelips and devise a plan.
Phelips willingly undertook the service and went
off to Southampton to look for a ship. He thought
he had found one ; but it turned out that the bark was
84 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
pressed to carry provisions to Admiral Blake's fleet,
then lying before Jersey. He returned to Salisbury,
and decided to get the assistance of a certain Colonel
Gounter who lived near Chichester. It was agreed
that Charles should be brought to Heale House, near
Salisbury, the residence of a widow, a Mrs. Hyde, and
there, on Monday, 6th October, accompanied by Miss
Juliana Coningsby, the King duly arrived from Trent.
At Heale Miss Juliana left him, having faithfully played
her romantic part. To dinner came Dr. Hinchman,
afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, and next day the
King behaved like an ordinary tourist, riding out
to see the sights, especially Stonehenge. Meanwhile
Lord Wilmot was scouring the country for a man who
would hire him a boat, and he and Colonel Gounter
thought their likeliest chance was with a certain
Captain Nicholas Tattersal, the master of a small coal
brig, the Surprise, at Brighton. Tattersal, however,
had just started for Chichester ; but a message reached
him at Shoreham, and on Saturday, llth October,
there was a meeting, when, for 60, the captain agreed
to carry over to France Colonel Gounter's two friends,
who were said to be anxious to leave the country'
because of their part in a fatal duel.
It was now necessary to get the King from Heale
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 85
to the Sussex coast. At two o'clock on the Monday
morning Charles rode out of Heale by the back way
with Colonel Phelips, and took the road for Hampshire.
After they had covered about fifteen miles they were
joined by Colonel Gounter and Lord Wilmot, who,
by previous arrangement, had been coursing hares
on the Downs. They spent the night in a house at
Hambledon among the pleasant "hills of the Forest
of Bere, where they parted with Phelips. Colonel
Gounter was now in charge, and on Tuesday, the 14th,
their way lay through the county of Sussex. Charles's
disguise must have been fairly complete, for he seems
usually to have been taken for a Parliamentarian,
since William Penderel's scissors had left him with
very little hair. He took pains to keep up the char-
acter, for when an inn-keeper used an oath, he flung
up his hands and drawled, " Oh, dear brother, that
is a c scape.' Swear not, I beseech thee." He was
clad in a short coat and breeches of sad-coloured
cloth, with a black hat, and according to one narrative
cut a figure like " the minor sort of country gentle-
man."
This last day's ride was in many ways the most
hazardous of all. As they neared Arundel Castle they
suddenly encountered the Governor setting out to
86 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
hunt with some of his men. Crossing the Arun at
Houghton Bridge, they had beer at a poor atehouse
and lunched off two neat's tongues, which Colonel
Gounter had brought with Mm. Then they passed
through the pretty village of Bramber, which, as it
happened, was full of Cromwellian soldiers who had
stopped for refreshment. When they had left the
village behind them they heard a clattering at their
back and saw the whole troop riding as if in pursuit.
The soldiers, however, galloped past them without
stopping, and at the next village, Beeding, where
Colonel Gounter had arranged a meal for the King,
they did not dare to halt for fear of the same soldiers.
Nine miles more over the Downs and they reached the
obscure little fishing village of Brighthelmstone, which
was all that then existed of Brighton, and halted at
the " George Inn," where they ordered supper.
The place was happily empty, and there Lord Wilmot
joined them. That last meal was a merry one, and
Charles was especially cheerful, for he saw his long
suspense approaching its end. He had borne the
strain with admirable fortitude and good-humour,
and whatever may be said of Ms qualities as a king
on the throne, he was certainly an excellent king of
adventure. The landlord, one Smith, who had formerly
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 87
been in the Royal Guards, waited on the table at
supper and apparently recognized His Majesty, for he
kissed his hand and said, " It shall not be said that I
have not kissed the best man's hand in England.
God bless you ! I do not doubt but, before I die, to be
a lord and my wife a lady." Tattersal, the shipmaster,
also joined them, and they sat drinking and smoking
until 10 p.m., when it was time to start.
Horses were brought by the back way to the beach,
and the party rode along the coast to Shoreham Creek.
There lay the coal brig, the Surprise, and Charles and
Lord Wilmot got into her by way of her ladder and lay
down in the little cabin till the tide turned, after
bidding adieu to Colonel Gounter; The honest Colonel
waited upon the shore with the horses for some hours,
lest some accident should drive the party ashore
again.
It was between seven and eight o'clock in the
morning of Wednesday, 15th October, before the boat
sailed, making apparently for the Isle of Wight, the
captain having given out that he was bound for Poole
with a cargo of sea coal. At five o'clock that evening
they changed direction, and with a favourable north
wind set out for the French coast. The King amused
himself on deck by directing the course, for he knew
88 ESCAPES AOT) HURRIED JOURNEYS
something of navigation. Next morning the coast of
France was sighted, but a change in the wind and
the falling tide compelled them to anchor two miles
off Fecamp. Charles and Wilmot rowed ashore in
the cock-boat. Thereafter the wind turned again,
and enabled Tattersal to proceed to Poole without
any one being aware that he had paid a visit to
France.
After the Restoration the little coal boat was
ornamented and enlarged and moored in the Thames
at Whitehall as a show for Londoners. She now bore
the name of the Royal Escape, and was entered as a
fifth-rater in the Royal Navy.
Wilmot, the loyal and resourceful companion, did
not live to see the Restoration, for he died in the autumn
of 1657, after he had been created Earl of Rochester.
Nine years after the events recorded in this tale, on
the 25th May, in bright weather, Charles landed at
Dover at the summons of his countrymen, as the
restored King of England. He was met by the Mayor
and presented with a Bible, which, he observed, was
the thing he most valued in the world. So began a
reign which was scarcely worthy of its spirited prelude.
In one matter, indeed, the King was beyond criticism.
No one of the people, gentle or simple, who had assisted
THE ESCAPE OF KING CHARLES 89
him in that wild flight from Worcester died unrewarded.
Until the end of his days Charles cherished tenderly
the memory of the weeks when he had been an outlaw
with a price on his head, and king, like Robin Hood,
only of the greenwood.
IV
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA
ON November 15, 1899, lieutenant-General Sir Aylmer
Haldane, who in the Great War commanded the VI.
Corps, was thirty-seven years of age and> captain
in the Gordon Highlanders. Mr. Winston Churchill,
who was afterwards to hold most offices in the British
Cabinet, was then twenty-five, and was acting as corre-
spondent for the Morning Post on the Natal front. He
had already seen service with his regiment, the 4th
Hussars, on the Indian frontier, and in other capacities
in Cuba and on the Nile. The South African War had
just begun, and so far had gone badly for Britain. Sir
George White was cut off in Ladysmith ; but Sir
Redvers Buller had landed in Natal, and it was believed
that he would soon advance to an easy victory.
The South African War, as we all know, was entered
upon light-heartedly and with very scanty fore-know-
ledge of the problems to be faced. Much of the British
94 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
equipment was amateurish ; but the palm for amateur*
ishness must be given to the armoured train which
plied its trade in the neighbourhood of Estcourt. It
was not much better than a death-trap. It was made
up of an engine, five wagons, and an ancient 7-pounder
muzzle-loading gun. Its purpose was reconnaissance ;
but it was a very noisy and conspicuous scout, as it
wheezed up and down the line, belching clouds of
smoke and steam.
On the morning of 15th November it set out to
reconnoitre towards Chieveley, carrying on board
120 men, made up of a small civilian break-down gang,
part of a company of the Dublin Fusiliers, and a com-
pany of the Durban Light Infantry Volunteers. Captain
Haldane was in command, and Mr. Churchill, in his
capacity as a War Correspondent, went with him.
When they reached Chieveley, Boer horsemen were
observed, and the train was ordered back to Frere.
But before it reached Frere it was discovered that a
hill commanding the whole line at a distance of 600
yards was occupied by the enemy.
The driver put on full steam and tried to run the
gauntlet ; but a big stone had been placed on the
line at the foot of a steep gradient, and into this the
train crashed. The engine, which was in the centre
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 95
of the train, was not derailed, and a gallant attempt
was made to clear the wreckage of the foremost trucks
and push through. For more than an hour, under
heavy shell-fire from the enemy's field guns, and a
constant hail of rifle bullets, the crew of the train
laboured to clear the obstruction. But the couplings
of the trucks broke, and though the engine, laden
with wounded, managed to continue its journey,
the position of the rest of the crew was hopeless, and
they were compelled to surrender. The Boers behaved
with conspicuous humanity, and the little company
of prisoners were soon jogging slowly northward
towards Pretoria.
The capital of the then South African Republic was
a little new town planned in orderly parallelograms
lying in a cup among rocky hills. From it three rail-
ways radiated one to Pietersburg and the north, one
to Johannesburg in the south-west, and one running
eastward to Portuguese territory and the sea at Dela-
goa Bay. The British privates and non-commis-
sioned officers were sent to a camp at the racecourse
on the outskirts of the town, while the officers were
taken to the Staats Model School, a building almost
in the centre of Pretoria. At first Mr. Churchill was
sent with the men, but he was presently brought back
96 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
and added to the officers. He bore a name which
was better known than liked in the Transvaal at the
time, and his presence as a prisoner was a considerable
Batisf action to his captors.
The Staats Model School was a single-storied red
brick building with a slated veranda, and consisted of
twelve class-rooms, a large lecture hall, and a gym-
nasium. The playground, in which it stood, was about
120 yards square, and in it there were tents for the
guards, the cookhouse, and a bathing-shed. On two
sides it was surrounded by an iron grill, and on the
other two by a corrugated iron fence some 10 feet high.
Before the prisoners from the armoured train arrived
there were already sixty British officers there, captured
in the early Natal fighting. For guard there were
twenty-seven men and three corporals of the South
African Republic Police (known locally as " Zarps ").
These furnished nine sentries in reliefs of four hours ;
they stood 50 yards apart, well armed with revolvers
and rifles. In every street ; of Pretoria, too, were
posted special armed constables.
To be taken prisoner thus early, in what was believed
to "be a triumphant war, was a bitter pill for British
officers to -swallow, and it was not easier for the rest-
less, energetic spirit of Mr. Churchill. As soon ^s the
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 97
captives arrived they began to make plans for escape.
None of them were on parole, and at first sight it
looked a comparatively easy task. It would not be
hard to scale the flimsy outer defences of the Staats
Model School, but the trouble lay in the guards. It
was f ound impossible to bribe them, for, as Mr. Churchill
has observed in his book, the presence of so many
millionaires in the country had raised the tariff too
high for any ordinary purse. Another difficulty was
where to go to. It was no good attempting to reach
Natal or Cape Colony, for that meant going through
Boer armies. The best chance lay eastward in the
direction of Portuguese territory, but that involved
a journey of 300 miles through an unknown country.
The one hope was the Delagoa Bay line, for where
there is a railway there are always chances of transport
for a bold man.
Captain Haldane's mind turned to tunnelling, and
he discovered in an old cupboard several screwdrivers
and wire-cutters, which he managed to secrete, Mr.
Churchill had a more audacious plan. He had ob-
served that the sentries on the side of the quadrangle
remote from the road were at certain times, as they
walked on their beats, unable to see the top of a few
yards of the boundary wall. There were brilliant
98 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
electric lights in tlie middle of the quadrangle, but the
sentries beyond them could not see very well what lay
behind. If it were possible to pass the two sentries on
that side at the exact moment when both their backs
were turned together, the wall might be scaled and
the garden of the villa next door reached. Beyond
that it was impossible to plan. Mr. Churchill and a
friend resolved to make the attempt and to trust to
the standing luck of the British Army to get safely
out of the town and cover the 280 miles to the Portu-
guese border. They had a fair amount of money,
they would carry some chocolate with them, and they
hoped to buy mealies at the native kraals. They
knew no Kafir or Dutch, and would have to lie hidden
by day and move only in the darkness.
n
The enterprise was fixed for the night of llth Decem-
ber, and was to be attempted at seven o'clock when
the bell rang for dinner. The two spent a nervous
afternoon ; but when the bell rang it was seen that
the thing was hopeless. The sentries did not walk
about, and one stood opposite the one climbable part
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 99
of the wall. "With a most unsatisfactory feeling
of relief " the two went to bed. The next evening
came and again the dinner bell rang. Mr. Churchill
walked across the quadrangle, and from a corner in
one of the offices watched the sentries. After half
an hour one suddenly turned and walked up to his
comrade and began to talk. The chance had come.
Mr. Churchill ran to the wall, pulled himself up, and
lay flat on the top while the sentries with their backs
turned were talking 15 yards away. Then he dropped
into the shrubs of the garden.
It was a night of full moonlight, but there was fair
cover in the bushes. The villa to which the garden
belonged was 20 yards off, and the undrawn curtains
revealed brightly lighted windows with figures moving
about. Mr. Churchill had to wait for the arrival of
his comrade, and as he waited a man came out
of the back door of the villa and walked in Ms
direction across the garden. Ten yards away he
stopped and appeared to be watching, while the fugi-
tive remained absolutely still with a thumping heart.
Then another man joined the first, lit a cigar, and the
two walked off together. Then a cat was pursued
by a dog, rushed into the bushes, and collided with
the fugitive. The two men stopped, but, reflecting
100 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
that it was only the cat, passed out of the garden gate
into the town.
Mr. Churchill had now been lying there an hour,
when he heard a voice from inside the quadrangle
say quite loud, "All up." He crawled back to
the wall and heard two officers walking up and down
talking. One of them mentioned his name. He
coughed ; one of the officers thereupon began to chatter
some kind of nonsense while the other said slowly,
"He cannot 'get out. The sentry suspects. It is
all up. Can you get back again ? " But to go back
was impossible, and though Mr. Churchill had very
little hope he determined to have a run for his money.
He said loudly and clearly, so that the others heard
him, " I shall go on alone."
The first thing was to get out of Pretoria. He had
managed during Ms confinement to acquire a suit of
dark clothes, different from the ordinary garments
issued to prisoners. To reach the road he must pass
a sentry at short range, but he decided that the
boldest course was the safest. He got up, walked past
the windows of the villa, passed the sentry at less than
50 yards, and, after walking 100 yards and hearing no
challenge, knew that he had surmounted the second
obstacle.
Then another man joined the first, lit a cigar, and
the two walked off together.
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 101
It was 'a queer experience to be at large on a bright
moonlight night in the heart of the enemy's capital
nearly 300 miles from friendly territory, and with a
certainty that in an hour or two there would be a hue
and cry out against him. He strolled at a leisurely
pace down the middle of the streets, humming a tuiie,
past crowds of burghers, till he reached the environs.
There he sat down and reflected. His escape would
probably not be known till dawn, and he must get,
some way off before daybreak, for all the neighbouring
country would be patrolled. He had 75 in his pocket
and four slabs of chocolate, but the compass, map,
opium tablets, and meat lozenges were left behind with
his unlucky friend. His only chance was the Delagoa
Bay Railway. That line, of course, was guarded,
and every traigi would be searched; but among a
multitude of black alternatives it gave at least a ray
of hope.
Half a mile later he struck the railroad, but he could
not be sure whether it was the Ketersburg or the
Delagoa Bay line, for it appeared to run north instead
of east. He followed it, and soon began to realize
the exhilaration of escape. Walking in the cool night
under the stars his spirits rose. There were pickets
along the line and watchers at every bridge, but he
102 ESCAPES AND HUKRIED JOURNEYS
avoided them all by short detours. And as he walked
he reflected that if he trusted to his feet to cover the
300 miles he would very soon be captured. He must
make better speed, and the only chance for that was
a train. Yes, a train must be boarded, and at the
earliest opportunity.
When he had walked for two hours he perceived
the lights of a station, so he left the track and hid in
a ditch 200 yards beyond the buildings. He argued
that any train would stop at the station and by the
^time it reached him would not have got up much
speed. After another hour he heard a train whistle
and saw the yellow headlights of the engine. It
waited five minutes in the station, and then, with a
great rumbling, started again. Mr. Churchill flung
himself on the trucks, got some sort of handhold, and
with a great struggle seated himself on the couplings.
It was a goods train, and the trucks were full of empty
sacks covered with coal dust, among which he burrowed.
He had no notion whether or not he was on the right
line, and he was too tired to worry, so he simply fell
asleep. He woke before daybreak and realized that he
must leave the train ere dawn. So he sat himself
again on the couplings, and catching hold of the iron
handle at the back of the truck, sprang to the side.
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 103
Tlie next moment lie was sprawling in a ditch, much
shaken but not hurt.
He found himself in the middle of a valley surrounded
by low hills. Presently the dawn began to break,
and to his relief he realized that he had taken the
right railway. The line ran straight into the sunrise.
He had a long drink from a pool, and resolved to select
a hiding-place to lie up for the day. This he found
in a patch of wood on the side of a deep ravine, where,
in the company of a cynical vulture, he spent the day-
light hours. From his eyrie he could see a little tin-
roofed town in the west, through which he had passed
in the night, and in the immediate neighbourhood
farmsteads with clumps of trees. There was a Kafir
kraal at the bottom of the hill, and he watched the
natives drive the flocks of goats and cows to the pas-
tures. His only food was one slab of chocolate, which
produced a violent thirst ; but, as the water pool was
half a mile away in the open and men were constantly
passing, he dare not risk going for a drink.
His prospects were pretty black when he started
again at the first darkness. He had a drink from
the pool, and then took to the railway line in hope of
getting a second train ride. But no train came, and
for six hours in the bright moonlight he walked on,
104 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
avoiding the Kafirs' huts and the guarded bridges,
When he had to make a circuit he fell into bogs, and,
as he was in a poor condition from the previous month's
imprisonment, he was very soon tired out.
Mr. Churchill published the story of his escape during
the war, when it was important not to implicate any
friends still in the Transvaal, and so the next part
of his journey has never been explicitly told. It
appears that he fell in with a Mr. Burnham and a Mr.
Howard, officials of a colliery, who gave him valuable
assistance, as they were afterwards to assist Captain
Haldane. On the fifth day after leaving Pretoria
he reached Mddelburg, where it was arranged that he
should try and board a Delagoa Bay train.
Meantime the hue and cry was out against him.
Telegrams describing him at great length were sent
along every railway ; 3,000 photographs were printed,
and warrants were issued for his immediate arrest.
Officials of the prison who knew him by sight hurried
off to Komati Poort, the frontier station, to examine
travellers. It was rumoured that he had escaped
disguised as a woman, and again disguised as a police-
man ; and finally it was reported that he was still
in hiding in Pretoria. The Dutch newspapers con-
sidered it a sinister fact that just before he escaped
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 105
he had become a subscriber to the State Library and
had borrowed Mill's On Liberty I
On the sixth day he found a train to Delagoa Bay
standing in a siding, which he boarded. The journey
should take not more than thirty-six hours, so the pro-
visions carried were not elaborate, and he had only
one bottle of water. He managed to ensconce himself
in a truck laden with great sacks of some soft mer-
chandise, and worm his way to the bottom. The
heat was stifling, for it was midsummer in the Trans-
vaal, and the floor of the truck was littered with coal
dust, which did not add to its amenities.
These last days of the adventure were both anxious
and uncomfortable. He scarcely dared to sleep for
fear of snoring, and he was in terror that at Komati
Poort, the frontier station of the Transvaal, the trucks
would be searched. His anxiety there was prolonged,
for the train was shunted for eighteen hours on to a
siding. Indeed, his truck was actually searched, and
the upper tarpaulin was removed, but the police were
careless and did not search deep enough.
At length, two and a half days after he left Middel-
burg, and eight and a half days from Pretoria, the
train crawled into Delagoa Bay. Mr. Churchill emerged
from his hole in the last stages of dirt, hunger, and
106 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
weariness. But all troubles were now past. He
went first to the British consul, who thought he was
a fireman from one of the ships in the harbour, and
who welcomed him with enthusiasm when he learned
his real name. Clothes were bought ; he had a long
wash, and at last a civilized meal. That very night,
as it happened, a steamer was leaving for Durban,
and in case any of the Boer agents at Delagoa Bay
should attempt to recapture him, some dozen of
the English residents, armed with revolvers, escorted
him on board. A few days later Mr. Churchill was
back again in Natal with the British Army.
in
We return to Captain Haldane and his friends,
who had been meditating escape from the first day
of their arrival at the Staats Model School. The
difficulty was, of course, the guards, and Mr. Churchill's
exploit made the Boer Government redouble its vigi-
lance. It was found impossible to bribe the sentries ;
a plan for a rising of the prisoners was soon given up ;
and the scheme of sinking a shaft and then tunnelling
to an adjacent kitchen garden proved impracticable,
since the diggers very soon struck water. For three
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 107
miserable months Captain Haldane cogitated in vain,
and the best he could do was to get hold of a tourist
map of South Africa and study the country east of
Pretoria in case some way of escape should present
itself. Meantime an incident cheered the prisoners.
A man accompanied by a St. Bernard dog took to
walking outside the school and signalling by the Morse
code with his stick. He was warned off by the guards,
but he found another means of communication and
sent messages from an adjacent house giving the news
of the war.
In the middle of February 1900 there was a rumour
that the officers were to be moved to a new building
from which escape would be impossible. This gave
Captain Haldane an idea. He resolved to go into
hiding beneath the floor, so that the Boers should
think he had escaped, and then, when the officers were
moved and the building was left empty, to emerge
and get out of the town. His companions in the
attempt were Lieutenant Neil Le Mesurier of the
Dublin Fusiliers and Sergeant-Major A. Brockie of
the Imperial Light Horse. They collected a few
necessary articles, opened the trap-door, and went to
earth.
It was a horrible place in which they found them-
108 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
selves. The floor of the building was about 2
feet above the ground, and the space below was
divided into five narrow compartments by four stone
walls, on which the cross beams rested. Each of
these compartments was about 18 feet long and 3J
feet wide, and there were manholes between them.
The air, what there was of it, came through a small
ventilator somewhere on the veranda. The place
was pitch dark, and the atmosphere was stuffy to the
last degree.
The three thought that their imprisonment there
would only last for twenty-four hours. They went to
earth on 26th February, and next day there was a
great to-do about their disappearance. Descriptions
of them were circulated over the whole country. One
of their friends above, Lieutenant Frankland of the
Dublin Fusiliers, arranged a small daily supply of
provisions. Alas 1 the twenty -four hours passed and
there was no move above. For nineteen days the three
men remained in that horrible dungeon. Their only
exercise was crawling about, in which they broke their
heads constantly against beams and walls. They were
covered with dirt, for very little water could be passed
through the trap-door. Still they managed to endure.
By the light of a dip they played games of patience
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA
and talked, and their chief anxiety was lest by
snoring or talking in their sleep they should give
their hiding-place away. Their friends above who
were in the secret tried to persuade them to come
up occasionally to get some fresh air, but they were
determined to play the game according to its rigour,
and refused.
But the situation was getting serious, for all three
were falling ill. Captain Haldane wrote to a fellow-
prisoner in the school above, a Dutch pastor called
Adrian Hofmeyer, begging him to try and get the
move expedited. Hofmeyer did his best with the
authorities, telling them the story of a bogus rising
of the prisoners ; but still nothing happened. At last
came the good news that the move was fixed for
Friday, 16th March. The prisoners underground heard
the commandant going his rounds for the last time.
Then their friends gave the agreed signal, and Frank-
land's voice said, " Good-bye." At a quarter-past ten
the prisoners were heard leaving the school, and by
midday the servants and baggage had left. The three
stayed below till nightfall and then walked out of the
empty building. Walking is, indeed, a misnomer, for
they seemed to nave lost the use of their legs. They
feli repeatedly and reeled like drunken men. It was
110 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
not till they had got out of the town that they re-
covered the use of their limbs.
They had 300 miles of a difficult journey to make to
safety, and surely never in the history of escapes have
three men started out on a wilder enterprise in worse
physical condition. Mr. Churchill had been out of
training, but his physique at the time was that of an
athlete's compared to Captain Haldane and his com-
panions. Brockie, who had lived in the country and
knew the language, got himself up like a wounded
Boer, with his left arm in a sling and the Boer colours
round Ms head. The trio presented the appearance of
the worst kind of Irish moonlighters.
In the suburbs a special constable looked at them
suspiciously, but was reassured by the sight of Brockie' s
wounded arm. They struck the Delagoa Bay Railway
and stumbled along it, Le Mesurier having the bad
luck to sprain his ankle. Their one advantage was
that, having been supposed to escape three weeks
before, the immediate hue and cry after them had
died down.
Their first halting-place was near a station on the
line, 13 miles east of Pretoria. There they lay
up, suffering much from mosquitoes, and when dark-
ness came made for the highroad running east. The
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 111
Transvaal highways at that time were not like those
of to-day, but simply raw red scars running across the
veld, by no means easy to follow in the darkness.
On this second night of their travels they were hunted
by dogs, and Haldane and Le Mesurier took refuge in
a stream, cowering up to their necks. Here they lost
Brockie, but fortunately he was the one of the three
best able to fend for himself, as he knew the country
and could speak both Dutch and Kafir. The two,
soaked to the skin, spent the rest of the night in a
clump of bracken, after taking a dose of quinine and
opium. At daybreak they found themselves stiff with
rheumatism. They had finished their whisky, and the
provisions, matches, and tobacco were soaked.
At dawn, in a tremendous thunderstorm, they made
for the railway again, and there Haldane, to his con-
sternation, discovered that he had left Ms money and
belt in the last hiding-place. He dared not return for
them, even if he had had any hope of finding the place
again. So there were the two men, without food or
money, weary, cramped, and sick, with the better part
of 300 miles before them in an enemy country,
Food must be found, and that night they came on
a Kafir kraal with a field of water melons. They
made a meal off the melons and stumbled on again.
112 ESCAPES AND HURKIED JOURNEYS
The next night their physical condition began to be
really serious. In four nights they had only covered
36 miles, and their food was reduced to one tin of
pemmican, one tin of cocoa, and a scrap of biltong.
They had hoped for mealies from the fields, but the
mealie harvest had just been gathered and not a cob
remained. Another misfortune was the condition of
the veld grass. They had expected it to be long
enough to hide in, but it was far too short for shelter,
and they were therefore compelled to lie up by day in
wet swamps.
That night, having finished every scrap of food, they
blundered into a Kafir hut beside a coal siding, where
some natives were eating mealie-meal porridge. Their
only course was to reveal themselves, for the Kafirs
were in the main on the British side. They learned
that the natives' master, the manager of the coal
mine, was a Dane, and to him they disclosed their
identity. The manager was friendly. He said his
own -mine was sending no coals to the coast for the
moment, but that at a colliery next door three trucks
were being loaded up for Delagoa Bay next morning.
He handed his visitors over to the storekeeper of the
mine, Mr. Moore, who gave them a dry bed and a good
meal.
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 113
Next morning they heard that the mine doctor, a
Scotsman called Gillespie, was coming to see them,
and in him they found a stout ally, for he knew all
about their escape and had been looking for their
arrival in order to help them. He was one of the
people who had already assisted Mr. Churchill. That
evening he undertook to drive them to another mine,
where a plan of escape could be matured.
In the early darkness they drove 14 miles over the
veld to the colliery of the Transvaal Delagoa Bay
Company. There they were handed over to Mr. J. E.
Howard, who had been the chief agent in Mr, ChurchilPs
escape. There, too, they were introduced to Mr.
Addams, the secretary of the mine, who turned out
to be no other than the Englishman with the St.
Bernard dog who had been accustomed to walk past
the Staats Model School. He and the manager of the
mine store, Mr. Burnham, at once set about planning
their escape. It was arranged that Mr. Howard should
feign illness for a few days and remain indoors, and
that Haldane and Le Mesurier should take up their
quarters with him. To their relief they also got news
of Brockie, for he had turned up a little earlier at the
same place and had been given a passport to the
border.
114 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
The plan arranged was as follows : Wool was still
being sent down from the high, veld to Delagoa Bay,
and the trucks for it were usually detached at Middel-
burg. It was arranged that Burnham should buy a
truck-load of wool and wire to a firm at Delagoa Bay
offering the consignment. This was done, wires were
exchanged, and sixteen bales of wool were duly col*
leeted and consigned to the coast. The truck for the
wool was brought up the line and carefully loaded.
The bales, each of which weighed 400 lb., were so ar-
ranged that there was a kind of tunnel at the bottom
down the centre, in which the fugitives could hide.
From behind the blinds in the sickroom of Mr. Howard,
Haldane and Le Mesurier watched with acute interest
the last stages of these preparations.
At 5 a.m. one morning they climbed into the tunnel
below the wool, where their friends had provided them
with ample provisions for a week in the shape of roast
duck and chicken, beef and bread, butter and jam,
nine bottles of cold tea, two of water, and one of whisky.
The tarpaulin was made fast over the top, and for
five hours the two waited. At ten o'clock that morn-
ing Mr. Howard came along and took a final farewell.
A certain Field-Cornet Pretorius had arrived that
morning and had shown himself very suspicious about
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 115
the tablecloth in Mr. Howard's dining-room, but the
manager had explained it with the story of a dinner
and card party. By midday the truck was taken by
a colliery engine to Whitbank station. Mr. Addams
and Mr. Burnham were on the lookout there, and to
their horror saw the Dutch driver and stoker stroll up
and lean against the truck. They endeavoured to
draw them away by offers of drinks ; but the driver
would not move, and taking a paper from his pocket
began to conduct his correspondence against the side
of the truck. A sneeze or a word from inside would
have given away the whole plan. Even when the
man left the danger was not over, for while the truck
was being shunted, one of the station officials actually
undid the tarpaulin and looked in, but saw nothing.
At 2.30 p.m. they were attached to a passenger
train, and for the rest of the day jogged across the
high veld, till at Waterval Boven, where the descent
to the low veld begins, th train drew up for the night.
They started again next morning, and presently they
reached the last Transvaal station, Komati Poort,
where a bridge spans the Komati river. This was
the place where a search was likely, and to the intense
disappointment of the fugitives they found the truck
detached and pushed into a siding. Discovery seemed
116 ESCAPES AND HTJERIED JOURNEYS
now certain; and Haldane decided to try and bribe
tlie first comer. He got a bag of a hundred sovereigns
ready, and destroyed any compromising matter in Ms
diary.
As it happened, the Pretoria Government had wired
to Komati Poort to order the strictest search of all
goods trucks. The stowaways heard the unloosening
of the ropes of their tarpaulin, and down in their
tunnel realized it had been lifted up and thrown back.
They saw daylight flood in at the tunnel end, and be-
lieved that any moment the face of a station official
would look down on them. Then to their amazement
the tarpaulin was returned to its place. They may
not have been seen ; or a Kafir may have caught a
glimpse of them, and, having no desire to aid the law,
said nothing.
But though the tarpaulin was drawn again, their
suspense was not over. All that day and all the
following night they lay there, anxious, half stifled,
and now very hungry, for they had thrown away
most of their provisions, believing that they would
not be needed. Saturday morning came, and they
realized that they had hoped the day before to be
inside the Portuguese border. At last, at 9 a.m., the
train steamed off, and while crossing the Komati
FROM PRETORIA TO THE SEA 117
bridge the two men shook hands. They saw the white
pillar which marked the boundary, and realized that
$hey had won freedom.
The train stopped at the first Portuguese station;
but the two stowaways did not dare to alight. They
waited till the evening and then crept out in the dusk.
At a Kafir kraal close by they learned that the hotel
there was kept by two Englishmen, and thither they
stumbled. In five minutes they were in a back room
being regaled with champagne by their excited com-
patriots.
Brockie had also escaped, but all three paid for
some time the penalty of their wild adventure with
malaria, and in the case of Le Mesurier with enteric.
In a few weeks, however, they were back on duty at
the front. Captain Haldane, as we have seen, was to
rise to be one of the most successful British generals
in the Great War. Brockie was killed by a mining
accident a few years after the escape. Le Mesurier
fell at the Second Battle of Ypres, and Frankland,
who had assisted them to escape, died in a reconnais-
sance at the Dardanelles.
THE ESCAPE OF PRINCE
CHARLES EDWARD
THE ESCAPE OF PRINCE
CHARLES EDWARD
WHEN, on April 16, 1746, the clans were broken on
Culloden Moor, the first thought of loyal hearts was
for the safety of the Prince's person. The Rising had
terrified the Government of George II., for it had won
a glamour and a success which no one had believed
to be within the bounds of possibility, and the glamour
was created by the personality of Charles Edward.
From a boy he had dreamed one dream and hoped one
hope, and he had never ceased to see in solemn vision
the crown placed upon his father's head by his own
hands, and his father's subjects delivered by his own
sword from a usurper's tyranny. When he was about
twenty, a young Scottish poet, a member of a great
Whig family which had been the enemy of Ms house,
was visiting Rome. The Prince, who made it his
business to know all about British travellers in Italy,
found the young Scotsman in the Capitol, and laying
Ms hand on Ms shoulder, addressed him by name.
121
122 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
" Mr. Hamilton, do you like this prospect, or the one
from North Berwick Law best ? " North Berwick
Law was near the home of Hamilton's Whig relatives,
but early prejudices vanished before the charm of the
Prince's manner and conversation, and Charles Edward
had gained a recruit for his future army.
This personal fascination had been the real strength
of the Jacobite cause from the moment of the Prince's
landing in Scotland. There had been great expecta-
tions of French help, and when these seemed likely
to fail, Prince Charlie had said in 1744, " I will be in
Scotland next summer, though it is with a single
footman." Next summer, he had landed on the little
island of Eriskay with seven men. His small following
alarmed the few friends who met him. The task
seemed hopeless, and they advised him to return
home. "I am come home," he replied, and gave
orders to sail to the mainland.
His personal appeal led men to join Trim in defiance
of every dictate of interest and common-sense. "I
will erect the royal standard," he said to Cameron of
Lochiel, " and proclaim to the people of Britain that
Charles Stuart is come over to claim the crown of his
ancestors, to win it, or perish in the attempt. Lochiel,
who, my father has often told me, was our firmest
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 123
friend, may stay at home and learn from the news-
papers the fate of his Prince. 3 ' The words changed
LochiePs mind. " I will share the fate of my Prince/*
he replied. " Will not you assist me ? " Charles asked
another young Highlander, and drew the expected
answer, "I will, though no other man in the High-
lands should draw his sword." Throughout the whole
campaign, it was the Prince who maintained the
Jacobite army ; hope and inspiration came from him,
and his were the fleeting triumphs that brightened the
early months of an effort foredoomed to failure. " I
leave for England in eight days," he said in Edinburgh,
" England will be ours in two months ; " and in the
Council of War at Derby his voice alone was given for
the march to London : " to put it to the test and win
or lose it all." After the retreat and the victory at
Fajkirk, Charles wished to remain in the Lowlands and
* 4
meet Cumberland there. He hoped to the end, and
refused to seek safety in flight while he had still an
army to fight for him.
On his arrival the Government had offered a reward
of 30,000 for his head, and tradition tells that the
Prince wished to retort by offering 30 as an adequate
sum for the head of the Elector of Hanover. Even
in the hour of defeat at Culloden, his followers felt that
124 ESCAPES AND HUERIED JOUBJSFEYS
the ministers of King George would still be eager to
secure the person of an enemy, whose charm and fascina-
tion had wrought one miracle and might be employed
to work another. While the Prince was still a free
man, could the House of Hanover be safe ? The
savage Duke of Cumberland would certainly wish to
add to his tarnished laurels the glory of the capture
of the fugitive. There was little time for consideration ;
the battle was fought and lost in less than half an hour,
and Cumberland's fresh troops might be trusted to be
active in the pursuit. The Prince would not believe
that all was lost, and he tried to induce the stragglers
to return to the charge. Those nearest to him begged
Mm not to expose his person needlessly, for the broken
clans would not rally. He hesitated, and one of them
seized his bridle and turned his horse's head to the
rear, just as, a hundred years before, his great-grand-
father, Charles L, had been led off the field of Naseby
with the words, " Will you go upon your death ? "
BADEKOCH ASTD LOCHABEB
For a few minutes it seemed as if the Prince were
still "going upon" his death. The fire of Cumber-
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 125
land's artillery did not slacken as the Jacobite army
wavered, and the retreating Prince had his horse shot
under him. A groom brought him a fresh horse, and,
as he mounted, the man fell dead by his side. Whither
was he to flee ? No plan had been made for the event
of a defeat, and no rendezvous had been appointed
for the beaten army. Accompanied by a few friends,
and a body-guard of some fifty horse, he rode off
towards the river Nairn. His direction was south-
wards, and Cumberland was pushing the pursuit west-
wards to Inverness, but had detached a body of horse
to ride down the stragglers. Charles left the field
blinded with tears that fell for his lost hopes, and he
very narrowly escaped falling in with this force as he
pursued his uncertain way.
His bonnet fell from his head, and a private in his
Life Guards brought him another. It was Edward
Burke, whom the Prince recognized as a servant of
one of his aide-de-camps. Burke belonged to an Irish
family which, for some generations, had been settled
in the Hebrides, and he was a native of North Uist.
When he joined the army he was a " chairman " (the
carrier of a sedan chair) in Edinburgh, but he had
been a gentleman's servant, and had travelled much
with his master, and he knew the country. " Ned,"
126 ESCAPES AND HUERIED JOURNEYS
said the Prince, " if you be a true friend, lead us safe
ofi." Ned, greatly honoured, did his best, and waa
the wanderer's first guide. Ned Burke was described
by those who knew him as true as steel but a
rough man, and he addressed the Prince with the
wonted fn.TniTia.rity of the Scottish peasantry, Charles
humoured him and chaffed him, and they had a
standing joke about "Deft speed the leears (liars),"
a wish obviously appropriate to a disguised prince
and his companions.
When Ned took command of the party, the Prince
dismissed his body-guard, and with Ned's master and
five others he crossed the Nairn and rode for some
distance up the right bank. It was growing late and
they sought refuge at Tordarroch, but in vain, and
pushing on, they recrossed the river near Aberarder,
where they were again refused entrance. Both of
these places were too near Inverness for safety. It
was fortunate that they did not halt until they reached
the hamlet of Gortuleg, where, in a house still in
existence, they found the aged Lord Lovat, the Fox
of the Highlands, who had played false to both sides,
and was attempting to escape from the fate that was
to overtake him on Tower Hill. The Prince drank
three glasses of wine with Lovat, who reminded him
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 127
that Robert the Bruce had lost eleven battles and won
Scotland by the twelfth. Doubtful history, and a
moral which could not be acted upon, were poor
consolation, and Charles speedily left his host and
rode on through the night.
There was some moonlight the moon was in her
first quarter and the tired little company reached
Invergarry Castle just as the moon was setting. The
house was empty and there was no food; but the
Prince had some rest, and Ned Burke noticed a fishing
net which had been set, and found two salmon, which
he cooked for their breakfast. In the afternoon, they
took to their horses again and rode along Loch Arkaig
to Glenpean, where they spent the night. Next day
the Prince expected a communication from his Mends
or a hint of the doings of his pursuers, but none came,
Cumberland, in fact, was on the wrong track. He
thought that the fugitive had made Ms way to Lovat's
country near Beauly, and the real route was unknown
to the enemy. Making for the sea, the Prince walked
from Glenpean over the hills to the beautiful region of
Morar, had some sleep in a lonely shieling, and through
the night of 20th April tramped to Borrodale, in Arisaig,
where he had landed nine months before.
Jess than a fortnight later, two French vessels,
128 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
carrying gold, reached Borrodale, but tlie Prince was
no longer there. He had stayed for five days, but
he could not know where Ms safety lay, and his friends
had sent him a fresh guide in the person of a Skye
farmer named Donald MacLeod. The Prince went out
to meet Donald and they had their first conversation
alone in a wood. His new friend was horror-struck
at the Prince's first suggestion. Like his ancestress,
Queen Mary, Charles was seized with a mad desire to
throw himself on the mercy of his enemies. He did
not, indeed, propose to surrender to Cumberland's
troops, but he asked Donald to carry letters for him
to his own chief, MacLeod, and to Sir Alexander
MacDonald of Sleat. These men were on the Govern-
ment side, but he believed that they would do every-
thing in their power for his safety. Donald replied
that his life was at the Prince's command, but that
nothing would induce him thus to reveal his where-
abouts. " Does not your Excellency know that these
men have played the rogue to you altogether, and will
you trust them for a' that ? Na, you maunna do V
Then Donald told him that the Laird of MacLeod and
Sir Alexander MacDonald were searching for him
about twelve miles away by sea, and urged that the
sooner he left Borrodale the Better. Donald was a
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 129
skilful seaman, and he undertook to conduct the
Prince to the Hebrides, in the hope of finding a ship
to take him to France.
It was not good advice, for a British fleet commanded
the seas, and the islands were easily watched. The
best hiding-place was in the wild district of Morar,
whence, as we have seen, he could have escaped within
a fortnight. But he could not tell that his refuge
might not be discovered. It was quite well known
among the people, for Donald's son Murdoch, an
Inverness schoolboy, who had run away from school
to fight at Culloden, astonished his father by appearing
at Borrodale ; he had traced and followed the Prince,
and less friendly inquirers might do the same. Charles
thought of the 30,000 reward, and as yet he did not
realize that the Highlanders were not thinking about
it. He spent five more unhappy and restless days
at Borrodale, while Donald MacLeod obtained a boat
and a crew. At last an eight-oared boat was ready,
with eight boatmen, among whom were Ned Burke
and the boy, Murdoch MacLeod. The Prince's com-
panions were Captain O'Sullivan, Captain O'Neil,
Captain Allan MacDonald, and a Roman priest.
Donald MacLeod was skipper, and he is known to
history as the Prince's Pilot.
130 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
On the evening of 26th April the Pilot warned tHe
Prince that a great storm was coming, and begged
him not to sail; but Charles was anxious about the
parties which were searching for him on the mainland,
and he insisted. They were unobserved by any of the
Government vessels; indeed, the fleet had gone off
to the remote island of St. Kilda, misled by some
rumour that the Prince was there. But the Pilot's
prophecy was fulfilled ; he said afterwards that the
tempest was more violent than any " he had ever been
trysted with before, though all his life a seafaring
man." Thunder and lightning and torrential rain, a
tumcane, and a heavy sea, were a new experience for
a Prince in an open boat. " I had rather face cannons
and muskets than be in such a storm as this/ 5 he
said, and told Donald to make again for the shore.
To obey the command would have been certain death.
** Since we are here," said the Pilot, u we have nothing
for it but, under God, to set out to sea. . Is it not
as good for us to be drowned in clean water as to be
dashed in pieces upon a rock and to be drowned too ? **
So they made for the open sea ; it was pitch dark,
they had neither lantern nor compass nor even a
pump. Through the whole night scarcely a man
spoke one word ; the thought of all was that it would
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 131
be better to be drowned in clean water than to be
driven on the coast of Skye, where bodies of militia-
men were on the outlook for the wanderer.
n
IN THE OTJTEB ISLES
Morning broke, and the storm was still raging, but
they were far beyond the shores of Skye. They
succeeded in landing at Rossinish in Benbecula, and
found an uninhabited hut in which they lit a fire and
dried their clothes. In this desolate region they
remained two days, and on the night of 29th April
set sail for the island of Scalpa, the tenant of which,
Donald Campbell, was a friend of the Pilot. They
agreed to represent themselves as the captain and
crew of a ship which had been wrecked on the island
of Tiree. O'Sullivan took the name of Captain
Sinclair, and the Prince passed as young Sinclair, his
son. They were hospitably received at Scalpa, and
their host, Donald Campbell, was in the secret of the
shipwrecked crew. They were eager, they said, tc
return to their home in the Orkneys, and sent the
Pilot to Stornoway to hire a vessel.
Meanwhile, mischief was brewing. John Macaulay,
132 ESCAPES AND HURBIED JOURNEYS
minister of South Uist (grandfather of Lord MacaulayV,
had heard of the Prince's coming, and he informed
his father, Aulay Macaulay, minister of Harris. The
Macaulays were strong Whigs, and there is a tradition
that, tf hile Prince Charlie was in Scalpa, Aulay Macaulay
and a neighbouring laird landed in the island with a
boatful of armed men and announced their intention
of earning the blood-money which the Government
had offered. But Donald Campbell warned the Prince
and his followers, and told the invaders that he would
himself fall in the Prince's cause rather than give up
a man who had entrusted him with his life, and Mac-
aulay and his friends " sneaked off the island." At
all events, the information sent by John Macaulay
(who long afterwards was snubbed at Inveraray by
Dr. Johnson) spoiled the plan of the shipwrecked
mariners. When Donald MacLeod reached Stornoway,
he found difficulty in securing a ship and suspected
that the truth was known; but at last he succeeded
in buying one and sent the good news to Scalpa.
On 4th May the Prince, with O'SuIlivan, O'Neil, and
Ned Burke, crossed to Harris. The journey was un-
fortunate, for they were misled by a guide whom they
had engaged, and they tramped all night through
wind and rain. The Pilot met them and told them
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 133
that he had arranged for their reception at Kildun
House, two miles from Stornoway, and he himself
returned to the town to make final preparations. To
Ms surprise, he found the road barred by two or three
hundred men in arms, who explained that they knew
the Prince was coming with a force of five hundred men
to seize a vessel in Stornoway, and that they feared
the vengeance of the Government. He told them the
truth, and they disowned any intention of doing the
Prince an injury, but insisted on his taking his de-
parture. It was in vain that Donald asked for a guide
who knew these stormy seas, and he had to return and
tell the news. The boa had followed them, though
two of the boatmen had deserted, and on the morning
of 6th May they set sail for Sealpa.
As they approached the island they had the " com-
fort and mortification" of seeing, without being
observed, three Government vessels on the outlook,
and they changed their course for the desert island
of Euirn or lubhard, where they found some fishermen
who had erected little huts, like pigstyes, for a tem-
porary shelter. The fishermen mistook the new-
comers for a press-gang from the wars-hips and fled,
but they left their fish behind them, and the fugitives
had brought some provisions. They remained fear
134 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
four days on this desolate island, occupying one of
the "pigstyes." It rained hard and they had to
cover the hut with the boat-sail for shelter, but the
Prince was in excellent spirits. He insisted on doing
the cooking himself, and laughed at Ned Burke for
being too fine to eat butter which had got mixed up
with bread-crumbs. A large stone served as a table
for the Prince and the gentlemen, and the boatmen
ate by themselves. Leaving this retreat on 10th
May, they returned to Scalpa, but found that their
kind host had been compelled to flee, and that it was
not safe for them to remain.
It was after leaving Scalpa that the Prince had
his first narrow escape. They were sailing south along
the coast of Harris, when, near Finsbay, they found
themselves within two musket shots of a man-of-war
under full sail. Their little boat was itself under full
sail and the boatmen rowed for dear life. "I will
never be taken alive/' said the Prince as the race went
on* They were hotly pursued for three leagues, until
they reached shallow water near Rodil Point, where
their enemy could not follow them as they sailed among
the creeks. After an ineffectual attempt, he turned
his course out to sea, and they hugged the coast until
they reached Loch Maddy. There they spied another
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 135
war-ship, but retreated from the loch without attracting
observation, and that night (llth May) they landed
on an island in Loch Uskavagh in Benbecula. During
their two days* sail they were short of food, and the
Prince, who had given his followers some lessons in
cooking at Euirn, was taught how to make drammock,
that is, meal mixed with water salt water unfor-
tunately. He ate heartily of it, and his Pilot loved
to tell how " never any meat or drink came wrong
to him, for he could take a share of everything, be it
good, bad, or indifferent, and was always cheerful and
contented in every condition."
There was need of cheerfulness, for though, as they
were landing in the rain, one of the boatmen captured
a crab and waved it triumphantly at the Prince,
the hut, which was their only refuge, was so low that
they had to dig below the door and line the hole with
heather for the Prince to crawl through. The hut,
said the Prince, had been inhabited by the devil, who
had left it because he had not room enough in it.
After three days in this island, they crossed to South
Uist and walked to Coradale, where Charles had more
comfortable quarters in a cottage. He was delighted
with his new abode and sat on a turf seat smoking a
pipe very happily until bedtime. The three weeks
136 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
spent at Coradale were the least troubled period of his
wanderings. He was a good shot, and brought down
a deer one day " firing off-hand " ; he also fished from
a small boat with a hand line. The weather was fine,
and he often sat on a stone by the door, basking in the
sunshine and watching the ships pass ; he deluded
himself with the hope that they were French, but his
friends knew that they were on the watch for him.
Occasionally he was melancholy, but he would recover,
and dance for a whole hour together to the music of
a Highland reel, which he whistled as he tripped along.
The happy days did not last long ; the Government
troops returned from their vain journey to St. Kilda,
and Barra and Uist began to be dangerous. Donald
MacLeod, the Pilot, had been sent to the mainland
and returned with news and two ankers of brandy, in
time to accompany the Prince in the flight which was
rendered necessary by the presence of troops in the
neighbourhood. On 6th June, they sailed to the island
of Ouia or Wiay, about twelve miles distant, but they
were not yet safe, and returned to Rossinish in Ben-
becula, fortunately not taking the Pilot with them.
At Rossinish Charles was in grave danger, for he was
warned to make his escape, and the passage to Ouia
was guarded by Government vessels. Taking advan-
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 137
tage of the short midsummer hours of darkness or
twilight, Donald MacLeod brought a boat to the
rescue, and they made for their old retreat at Coradale ;
but a storm and a glimpse of two war-ships forced them
to land where they could, and the Prince slept in a
cleft of a rock, drawing his bonnet over big eyes for
shelter. The storm continued to rage all next day,
but the enemy were within two miles of them, and
at night they found another refuge. Their hope was
to reach the territory of MacDonald of Boisdale, who,
they believed, could help them, and on 15th June they
sailed for Boisdale in South Uist.
It was a dangerous journey, for fifteen sail were
visible at sea, and they knew that the land was guarded.
They lay all day out of sight in a narrow creek, and
landed at rtight on the shores of Loch Boisdale, where
the Prince slept on a bed of heather in the shelter
of a ruined castle. Next morning their spirits rose,
for the Pilot saw two French ships appearing, and they
were ready to hail them when they made the sad
discovery that they were Government vessels. A
party of soldiers under Captain Caroline Scott, one of
Cumberland's best executioners, landed within a mile
of them, and the Prince took to the hills, while the
boatmen concealed the boat. For three days, the
138 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Prince was engaged in dodging the Redcoats on one
side or the other of Loch Boisdale. Their journey
was useless, for Boisdale had been made a prisoner,
and his wife could do no more than warn them of
Scott's neighbourhood.
The Prince decided on a bold and desperate plan.
When he was at Coradale, a half-hearted friend, Ronald
MaeDonald, the chief of Clanranald, had sent him as
an attendant a gentleman of his clan named Neil
Macdonald-Maceachain, the future father of a dis-
tinguished son, Napoleon's Marshal MacDonald, Duke
of Tarentum. Neil Maceachain had been educated
in France for the priesthood, and Clanranald knew
that he was fitted to be a companion for the Prince.
Soon after Neil joined him, the Prince received a
message from Hugh MacDonald of Armadale. This
man was in charge of a company under his cousin,
Sir Alexander MacDonald of Sleat, whose duty was
to capture the Prince. But Hugh MacDonald had
served in the French army and was himself a Jacobite,
and his loyalty to his own chief was modified by the
circumstance that his chief's wife, Lady Margaret
MacDonald, was known to sympathize with the Prince's
cause. Some years before lie had abducted, or eloped
with, the young widow of Ranald MacDonald of Milton
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 139
in South. Uist, and his stepdaughter, Flora MacDonald,
was living with, her brother at Milton. The message
which he sent to the Prince contained a warning that,
since the Government forces knew him to be con-
cealed in the Outer Hebrides, it was hopeless to try
and elude them, and, offered a suggestion of an escape
to Skye, where Lady Margaret would receive Mm
in her husband's absence. The plan was that Hugh
MacDonald should give his stepdaughter a pass or
safe-conduct to her mother's house in Skye, that the
Prince should be disguised as her maid, and that Neil
Maceachain should accompany them as a servant.
When Charles, with Captain O'Neil and Neil
Maceachain, was in hiding on the top of one of the
mountains overlooking Loch Boisdale, this scheme
recurred to his mind, and, on 21st June, the three
walked to within a short distance of a shieling where
Flora MacDonald and her brother were tending their
cattle. That evening the Prince, who had just parted
with his faithful Pilot and with Ned Burke, had his
first interview with the brave girl whose name was
to be so honourably linked with his own. He himself
told her of her stepfather's proposal, and she answered
that she would gladly take the risk. It had to be
then or never, and Flora set out at once for Benbecula
140 ESCAPES AND HUBBIED JOURNEYS
to arrange matters with her stepfather and to procure
a disguise from Lady Clanranald, while the Prince and
his two followers found shelter in the hills near his
old quarters at Coradale. Next day, the impatient
Prince sent Neil Maceachain to Benbecula to bring
back a report ; but when he came to the fords between
South Uist and Benbecula, he found that they were
closely guarded at low tide when alone they are
passable. Flora MacDonald had met with the same
difficulty the preceding day, and each of them asked
to be taken to the captain of the company, who was
Hugh MacDonald. Neil found Flora breakfasting with
her stepfather, and they arranged that Neil and the
Prince should meet her at Eossinish. The difficulty
was to bring him there ; they dared not risk an attempt
to pass by the fords. But Neil was lucky enough to
find some fishermen whom he knew, and they ferried
the Prince and Captain O'Neil and himself to the coast
of Benbecula, in the darkness, and left them on a
tidal island, much to the alarm of the Prince, who
awoke from a sound sleep to find himself upon a small
rock surrounded by water.
At low tide they made their way to the shore, and
after a cold wet night in the heather, set out for
Rossinish in a wild storm of wind and rain. Walking
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 141
was very difficult, and the exhausted Prince was
constantly falling into holes concealed by the heather
or losing his shoes in the bogs. At last they reached
the rendezvous, and Neil went on to reconnoitre. He
did not find Flora or Lady Clanranald, and he was
informed that twenty of the Skye militiamen were in
a tent about a quarter of a mile away. There seemed
nothing for it but another night in the heather, but
they found shelter at some little distance, in a house
belonging to a tenant of Clanranald. At dawn their
hostess turned them out because she knew the militia-
men were corning to buy milk, and they hid them-
selves under a rock by the shore. The rain never
ceased, and they thought that all the windows of
heaven had been broken open. The rock was an
insufficient protection, and a swarm of midges settled
upon the Prince's face and hands, inflicting such misery
that he cried out in his pain and despair. At last,
they were told that the militia had gone ; they returned
to a warm room and a bright fire ; the Prince hung
up his clothes to dry, sat at the fireside in his shirt
" as merry and hearty as if he was in the best room
at Whitehall," and slept contentedly upon the door,
which was taken down and covered with a ragged
sail to make a bed for him.
142 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Two days later, on the evening of 27th June, Flora
MacDonald arrived with her brother and Lady Clan-
ranald and Captain O'Neil, who had gone in search of
the ladies. They sat down to a good supper, but had
scarcely begun when a herd rushed breathlessly into
the room and told them that General Campbell was
landing his men three miles away. In a few minutes
they were in the boat, and they spent the night crossing
Loch Uskavagh and finished their supper on the other
side at five o'clock in the morning. Lady Clanranald
then returned to Benbecula to plead with General
Campbell to spare her home. Flora's brother went
with her, and Flora insisted that Captain O'Neil should
accompany them. She disliked the attentions he paid
her, and she knew that his presence would draw fresh
suspicion upon her little company, which was to
consist of the Prince, Neil Maceachain, ana herself.
Her stepfather's passport was for herself and her
servant, and for a woman named Betty Burke, an
expert with the spinning-wheeL As an additional
precaution, Hugh MacDonald had furnished her with
a letter to his wife, saying that Betty's services should
be secured for the spinning of a large quantity of lint
which was in the house at Armadale.
Before Lady Clanranald left, she, with Flora Mac-
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 143
Donald's help, dressed the Prince in the clothes they
had prepared for him. He laughed and the lady
wept as they clad Mm in the coarse garb of a gentle-
woman's servant a light-coloured quilted petticoat,
a flowered calico gown, a white apron, and a long
dark cloak made of the rough homespun known as
camlet. The head-dress was large enough to cover his
whole head and face. Charles was much amused by
the apron, and kept telling them not to forget it.
At eight o'clock on the evening of 28th June, Flora,
with Betty Burke and Neil Maceachain, set sail from
Benbecula for Skye. The sea was rough, but the
Prince was in great spirits, and he sang the Cavalier
songs which told of the Restoration of his great-uncle,
Charles II. " The twenty-ninth of May " and " The
King shall enjoy his own again." Flora MacDonald
fell asleep, and he kept guard lest any of the boatmen
should stumble over her in the darkness.
ra
IN SZYE
Next morning they were ofi the coast of Skye with
a heavy gale in their faces. They were about to land
144 ESCAPES AND HUREIED JOURNEYS
at the Point of Waternish, when they saw two sentries,
one of whom ordered them to stop. They rowed out
to sea as fast as they could ; he fired and missed them,
and his companion went off to give the alarm. Fifteen
men came up, and two boats were lying ready. Pursuit
and capture seemed inevitable, for the Prince had no
arms, but the soldiers were content with walking along
the shore and watching the direction taken by the
little boat, and, after hiding in a creek, Flora and her
companions landed undisturbed at Kilbride, in Troter-
nish, near Monkstat, the house of Sir Alexander
MacDonald of Sleat. The laird, as they knew, was
with Cumberland at Fort Angustus, but they were
sure of help from Lady Margaret.
Mora MacDonald took Neil with her to Monkstat,
and left the Prince in the boat. The boatmen were
instructed, if any inquiry should be made about the
person in the boat, to answer that it was a maid of
Miss MacDonald's, a lazy jade who would not follow
her mistress. At Monkstat Flora obtained a private
interview with Lady Margaret, and found that there
were two guests in the house MacDonald of Kings-
burgh, Sir Alexander's factor or land agent, and
Lieutenant Alexander MacLeod, who was in command
of the party which had so nearly caught the Prince.
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 145
Lady Margaret sent for Kingsburgh and told Mm the
story. It was impossible to risk a meeting between
Betty Burke and Lieutenant MacLeod, and lie promised
to take the Prince to Ins own house at Kingsburgh.
Neil was sent to convoy the Prince from the boat to
a hill a mile from Monkstat, and a bundle of clothes
was prepared in order that Betty Burke might be seen
to carry her mistress's baggage. They reached the
trysting-place in safety, and the Prince sent Neil back
to the boat for a case of knives which would have
aroused suspicion if it had been found by the enemy.
Neil reluctantly left him within a gun-shot of the
highroad, and returned to find that Kingsburgh had
brought him wine and biscuits. He had tracked Mm
through noticing a number of sheep running away as
if alarmed by a stranger, a hint which, fortunately,
was not taken by any of the soldiers who were moving
about.
Lady Margaret's problem was to lull any suspicions
of her other guest, and for this purpose Flora Mac-
Donald dined at Monkstat, and had a conversation
with Lieutenant MacLeod, who was anxious to know
if, in her journey from Benbecula, she had heard
anything about the movements of Charles Edward.
She gave discreet answers to his inquiries, and, in his
146 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
presence, Lady Margaret strongly opposed the sug-
gestion that Flora should go home that night. She
had often promised them a visit, and she must not
leave them after a few hours. Flora begged to be
excused ; she was anxious to see her mother, and to be
at home in these troublous times. Lady.. Margaret
reluctantly yielded, but insisted on sending her own
maid with her. Flora set out on horseback, and soon
overtook Kingsburgh, Betty Burke, and Neil. Some
of the neighbours followed her and were much inter-
ested in Betty. They remarked on the impudence
with which she walked and talked with Kingsburgh,
and were indignant that he should make a serving-
woman his companion and pay no attention to her
mistress. They observed her masculine walk, and
were much shocked by the carelessness with which
she raised her skirts t%Leri fording a stream. Neil
pacified them by saying that she was an Irish girl,
whom Miss Flora had picked up in Uist and had brought
tome because of her marvellous skill in spinning. At
last they shook off their inquisitive companions, and
the little party reached Kingsburgh House about mid-
night.
The mistress of the house had gone to bed, and was
roused by the visit of an excited daughter, " O mother,
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 147
my father has brought in such a very odd, muckle,
ill-shaken-up wife as ever I saw ! " Mrs. MacDonald
went down and found Betty Burke traversing the hall
with " wide, lang steps." Her husband asked her to
get some supper, and Betty Burke saluted her with a
kiss from unshaven lips. Kingsburgh followed her
and told her that they had the Prince a3 a guest.
They agreed that it was a hanging matter, but resolved
to die in a good cause, and the lady's anxiety was
diverted from the gallows by the difficulty of providing
a supper fit for a prince. She brought him roasted
eggs and bread and butter, and he drank two bottles
of small beer and a bumper of brandy. Then he
produced a cracked pipe which he had tied up with
thread, and asked for tobacco, which Kingsburgh gave
Mm along with a new pipe.
In the morning the Prince slept late, and Flora and
Kingsburgh took counsel together. They knew the
amiable methods of the soldiery, and were sure that
the boatmen, threatened with torture, would tell the
story of Betty Burke. Though they were reluctant
to disturb the Prince's rest, it was necessary to get him
away at once. They roused Mm and dressed Mm in
Ms female attire, for it was obviously desirable that
he should leave the house in Ms disguise, so that any
148 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOUENEYS
information which leaked out through the servants
might lead Ms pursuers to watch for a man in woman's
clothes. Before he left, Flora cut a lock from his hair,
and bis hostess gave him a silver snuff -bos engraved
with two clasped hands and the motto " Rob Gib."
Some days later the Prince noticed the motto, asked a
companion what it meant, and was told that Rob
Gib's contract was stark love and kindness. " I will
keep it all my life," he said.
Kingsburgh accompanied him on his way, and, in a
wood, Betty Burke changed into Highland dress, and
" with a claymore in his hand he was a soger-like man
indeed." Bidding farewell to Kingsburgh with the
words, " I am afraid I shall not meet another Mac-
Donald in my difficulties," he and Neil Maceachain
walked to Portree under the guidance of a little boy.
He left Kingsburgh just in time, for Monkstat and
Kingsburgh House were soon searched by the fierce
General Ferguson, who insulted Mrs. MacDonald and
met her denials of the Prince's presence with the
remark that she had put the maid in a better room
than her mistress. Cumberland was furious at the
Prince's escape, and ordered the arrest of Kingsburgh,
who, he said, tad neglected the greatest service which
could have been done to King George. The Prince's
ESCAPE OF PRIXCE CHARLES EDWARD 149
host spent twelve months in prison as the reward of
one night's hospitality.
At Kingsburgh Charles had again proposed to throw
himself on the mercy of MacLeod, but had been
persuaded to fall in with an arrangement made by
Lady Margaret and Kingsburgh. One of Sir Alexander
MacDonald's clan, Donald Roy MacDonald, had been
prevented by his chief from going to the Prince when
he raised his standard, but had joined after the battle
of Prestonpans, had been wounded in the foot at
Culloden, and was hiding in a surgeon's house in
Troternish. It was agreed at Monkstat that Donald
Roy MacDonald should meet the Prince at Portree,
and arrange for his crossing to the island of Raasay
under the protection of the Laird of Raasay.
While Charles was at Kingsburgh, Donald Roy
succeeded in finding a son of the Laird of Raasay,
known by the name of his father's property of Rona,
a neighbouring island. All the boats in Skye had
been commandeered, and Rona had to take a crazy
old boat which he found abandoned in a fresh-water
loch, and to convey it to the sea, in order to obtain
one of his father's boats from Raasay. Before the
Prince reached Portree on 30th June, Rona had
returned accompanied by his brother, Murdoch Mac-
150 ESCAPES AND HUERIED JOURNEYS
Leod, and by a cousin, Captain Malcolm MacLeod
Flora MacDonald performed her last service to the
Prince by riding to Portree to make sure of his recep-
tion, and the whole party the Prince, Flora Mac-
Donald, Neil Maceachain, Donald Roy MacDonald,
and the three MacLeods met at an inn. Charles
purchased a quarter of a pound of tobacco, and Donald
Boy had to insist upon his taking three halfpence
brought him by the landlord as change for sixpence ;
but in spite of this warning of the danger of arousing
suspicion by unheard-of liberality, he proposed later
to be satisfied with eleven shillings as change for a
guinea, the landlord not being able to produce more
silver. Donald Roy checked him and got the guinea
changed elsewhere.
They were to sail about midnight, and the Prince
made his farewells. He had always treated Flora
MacDonald with the greatest deference, and invariably
rose when she entered the room, and he used to speak
of her as "our Lady." He kissed her the usual
salutation of the time. " For all that has happened/*
he said, " I hope, madam, we shall meet in St. James's
yet." Nine days had elapsed since they first met
in the shieling in South Uist ; for three days they
had been fellow-wanderers. He was not destined to
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 151
receive her at St. James's, nor ever to see her again
after their parting in the village inn, but a gracious
recollection of " our Lady " can never have been
obliterated by the sins and the sorrows of later years,
She was again to meet a Prince of Wales, for, when she
was a prisoner in London, the heir of George II. paid
his respects to her and gave to history one of the
few pleasant stories that are recorded of " Fred who
was alive and is dead." Four years later she married
Kingsburgh's son ; she became the mother of many
children ; she entertained Dr. Johnson in the house
to which she had brought Prince Charlie. Her ad-
ventures were not yet over, for, in the year after
Johnson's visit, she and her husband emigrated to
ISl'orth Carolina, and she saw the fighting in the early
campaigns of the American War. She returned to
Skye and died at Kingsburgh in 1790, two years after
" King Charles HL" had breathed Ms last at Rome.
Those three June days when she was the Prince's
preserver have consecrated her name and her memory
while courage and loyalty are deemed worthy of the
reverence of mankind.
The Prince had still before him many weary wander-
ings. He bade good-bye that evening not only to
Flora MacDonald, but also to Neil Maceachain, whom
152 ESCAPES AOT) HURRIED JOURNEYS
he sent to attend the Lady to her home. Donald Roy
was lame and could not accompany him, and he was
conducted by the two MacLeods, Murdoch and Mal-
colm ; he went off with a bottle of whisky strapped
to his belt at one side, and a bottle of brandy, some
shirts, and a cold fowl on the other side. They
reached Raasay safely; but the Prince thought the
island too small for concealment, and during the short
time they were there they were alarmed by a man
whom the islanders suspected to be a spy. He came
near their hut, and Malcolm MacLeod proposed to shoot
him, but Charles forbade him, and the stranger passed
on without looking in. The Prince insisted upon re-
turning to Skye ; he was not quite happy among
MacLeods and wished to be with Donald Roy again.
Late on the evening of 2nd July they left Raasay
in a storm, the Prince singing a Highland song to
cheer the boatmen ; he had learned Gaelic in the
course of his expedition. They landed at Scorry-
breck, close to Portree, and the Prince spent an uneasy
night in a cow byre, often wakening up and looking
round him with a startled air. " poor England,"
he was heard to murmur in Ms sleep. Donald Roy
had been sent for, but was unable to come, and Malcolm
MacLeod warned the Prince that parties of soldiers
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHAELES EDWARD 153
were on the outlook, and that they must set out
without a moment's delay. They walked to Mao
Mnnon's country, the part of Skye known as Strath,
and the Prince passed as MacLeod's servant and took
the name of Lewie Caw, a fugitive from Culloden who
was known to be hiding in Skye. Lewie Caw carried
the baggage and was caref id to walk behind his master
and to show no curiosity when MacLeod met an ac-
quaintance. They redoubled their precautions when
they entered Mackinnon's country, because Maekinnon
had been " out " and the district was specially watched.
Charles exchanged his waistcoat with MacLeod because
it looked too fine for a servant, and promised some day
to give him a better waistcoat still when he himself
should walk in London streets dressed in the kilt
which Kingsburgh had given him. He removed his
periwig and covered his head with a dirty napkin,
but MacLeod insisted that any one who had ever
seen him would know him again. "This is an odd
remarkable face I have got that nothing can disguise
it,** he said, and MacLeod, as he looked at him, felt
that no disguise could conceal his possession of " some-
thing that was not ordinary, something of the grand
and stately ."
In this way they reached Elgol and met the old
154 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Laird of Mackinnon, who arranged to accompany the
Prince to the mainland. Malcolm MacLeod, himself a
person for whom search was being made, thought that
the Prince would be safer without him, and Charles
reluctantly let Hm go, sending with Mm a note of
thanks to Donald Roy. "Sir," it read, "I thank
God I am in good health and have got off as designed.
Remember me to all friends, and thank them for the
trouble they have been at. I am, Sir, your humble
servant, JAMES THOMSON."
IV
ET LOCHABEB
The Prince, with the old laird and his son, John
Mackinnon, landed on the shore of Loch Nevis at
four o'clock in the morning of 5th July, and spent
three nights in the heather. On the morning of 8th
July the old laird went to seek a cave as a shelter,
and the Prince and John Mackinnon rowed up the
loch. Suddenly, as they came round a point, their
oars struck some wood, and they saw a boat tied to a
rock and five men standing near it on the shore.
They were at once challenged, and, when the boatmen
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 155
answered that they came from Sleat, they were ordered
to come ashore. They disobeyed, and the militiamen
jumped into their own boat and pursued. John
MacKinnon himself took an oar, for the Prince's life
depended upon the race that summer morning. Charles
was sitting in the bottom of the boat with his head
between Mackinnon's legs. He wanted to make for
the shore and trust to his powers of running; but
Mackinnon spread a plaid over his head that he might
not be seen, and told Mm firmly that he had no chance
on a bare hillside, that their only hope of escape lay
in their oars, and that if the pursuers came up he
could rely on them all to fight to the last. Each
boatman sat with a loaded musket beside him. From
time to time the Prince inquired how the race was
going, and Mackinnon was always able to answer that
they were holding their own. It was not enough, but
a desperate effort carried them round a point and out
of sight of the enemy. The coast was wooded, and the
Prince, Mackinnon, and one of the boatmen jumped
ashore and plunged into the trees. The boat went on,
but the pursuers, coming again within view 3 saw that
their prey had escaped, and Charles, from the top of
a hill, watched them return, while Mackinnon waa
apologizing for having disobeyed his commands. " I
156 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
only wanted," lie replied, " to fight for my life rather
than be taken prisoner."
Later in the day they recrossed the loch and walked
through the night to Morar, and MacDonald of Morar
gave them his son as a guide to Borrodale. They
made for the house of the Laird of Borrodale, Angus
MacDonald, but it had been burned down by the
troops, and they found him in a neighbouring hut.
When John Mackinnon announced the Prince's
presence, the old man said, "I shall lodge him so
secure that all the forces in Britain shall not find him
out." After his narrow escape two days before,
Charles had received a cold message from Clanranald
and a refusal of help from Morar, and Borrodale's
welcome gave Mm fresh heart and hope.
The two Mackinnons left him at Borrodale, and
both of them fell at once into the hands of the soldiers,
who could not fail to suspect the Prince's presence
in the neighbourhood. The news of their capture
made old Borrodale doubly cautious, and on 13th July
he hid the Prince in a cleft between two precipitous
rocks where he had constructed a little hut and had
covered it with green turf, so that it looked like a
natural grass-covered brae. Here the Prince was
joined by a nephew of Ms host, Alexander MacDonald
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHABLES EDWABD 157
of Glenaladale, who was Ms companion in most of
what remained of his wanderings. Glenaladale had
been wounded three times at Culloden, but he responded
at once to the Prince's call. They did not remait
long at Borrodale, for they learned that the Prince's
presence in that region was known to the enemy, and
they could see the ships on the coast. On 17th July
they set out for a new place of concealment in Morar,
where they learned that General Campbell, with six
ships, had anchored in Loch Nevis, and that a party
of soldiers was near them. It was clear that they
were surrounded, and that they must break through
the enemy's line of posts, and make for the north in
the hope of finding a French ship at Poolewe, near
Loch Maree*
Every day brought fresh perils and new adventures.
At their first setting out they saw from the top of
a hill some cattle being moved, and discovered that
Glenaladale's tenants were saving their property from
the troops, who were taking the very route by which
the Prince had intended to go. This led them t<?
send for a fresh guide, Donald Cameron of Glenpean,
to conduct them out of the dangerous region of Morar.
While they waited for him they learned that a hundred
Argyllshire militiamen were at the foot of the very
158 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Mil on the top of which, they were resting. They
could not stay for their guide, and, as the sun was
setting, they moved on. A solitary figure was seen
approaching them, and they could not tell whether
the man was friend or foe, but, to their relief, it proved
to be Donald Cameron, and he promised to lead them
safely through the enemy's outposts.
From the head of Loch Eil to the head of Loch
Hourn there was a long series of small camps about
half a mile from each other ; the sentries were each
within call of his neighbour, and patrols were con-
stantly moving to keep the sentries alert. Cameron
led them to a hill which had just been searched, and
might, therefore, be regarded as safe, but they had no
provisions except a little oatmeal and some butter,
and, after some wanderings, they found a hiding-place
for the Prince on a hill at the head of Loch Quoich,
while some of the party went to get provisions. They
brought back the news that a hundred redcoats were
marching up the other side of the hill, and the whole
party set out again towards nightfall. As they
trudged along they saw in front of them a camp-fire,
but they decided that they must take the risk of
passing through the enemy. To remain in the region
of Moidart meant certain capture. They crept along,
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 159
going so near the camp that they could hear the soldiers
talking, but they were unobserved. As they were
climbing the next hill they came across a rivulet
which, emerging from a spring, fell straight down a
precipice. The Prince missed his footing, and was
about to fall, but was supported by Donald Cameron
and Glenaladale, and they reached the top in safety,
only to see another camp-fire at the foot. This they
were able to avoid, but, although they had broken
through the cordon, their route still lay along the line
of the camps.
At the head of Loch Hourn they hid in a hollow
which was covered with long heather and birch trees.
They were faint with hunger, and one of them, a son
of old Borrodale, produced from his pocket a small
quantity of meal. He used to tell afterwards of the
change produced on the faces of his companions by
the sight of it. Their guide, Donald Cameron, was not
sure of the way from this point, and in the evening
he and Glenaladale went to find a new guide. When
the two emerged from the hollow they found that they
had spent the day quite close to one of the enemy's
camps; they returned, and the whole party at once
set out for Glenshiel. The night was very dark, and
they had nothing to eat, but in the morning they got
160 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
butter and cheese ia a village in Glenshiel, where they
were fortunate enough to find a guide, named Donald
MacDonald, who had fought in the Prince's army and
was fleeing from the troops. They also learned the
unpleasant news that a French ship had just left
Poolewe, and that it would be useless to go there.
That day, 22nd July, was very hot, and they lay on a
mountain side parched with thirst ; a stream was near,
and they could hear the sound of the water, but they
dared not move. At sunset Donald Cameron bade
them good-bye, and a small boy, the son of the man
from whom they bought their provisions, arrived with
some goats' milk as a present to Glenaladale.
Thus refreshed, they turned their course southwards
for Glenmoriston, under their new guide ; but they had
scarcely gone a mile when Glenaladale missed his
purse, which contained the Prince's gold. The Prince
found a hiding-place, and Glenaladale and young
Borrodale proceeded to search for the purse. They
soon found it empty. There could be no doubt
about the thief, for Glenaladale remembered taking
it out to give four shillings to the boy who had brought
the milk. They walked back to his father's house*
and made their complaint. The father seized a rope
and threatened to hang the boy to the nearest tree,
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 161
and the money was returned. The boy's crime saved
the Prince. As he lay waiting, with the guide and
another attendant, an officer with a small armed party
passed close to him, having come by the track along
which the fugitives were going. Charles dared not
send to warn Glenaladale and his companion, and he
lay in grave anxiety until they arrived. The officer
had passed them on the other side of a stream, and
neither of the two parties had seen the other. If
Glenaladale had not missed his purse, and they had
all pursued their original route, they must have met
the soldiers, and, though they would have outnumbered
them, the noise of the conflict could not have failed
to bring larger numbers of the enemy.
They went on towards Glenmoriston, walking by
night and hiding by day, the Prince made miserable
by swarms of midges. On 24th July, they reached
the Braes of Glenmoriston and found some friendly
MacDonalds, Highland robbers by profession, one of
whom recognized the Prince. " I hope," he said,
" to see you yet in a better condition, as I have seen
you before at the head of your army on Glasgow
Green." For a week the Prince remained concealed
in Glenmoriston. His host told him of a cave which
could shelter forty men, the best water in the High-
162 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
lands running through it, and a heather bed ready
for his reception. After three days of these comforts,
they moved to another grotto, equally picturesque,
but a party of militia was reported to be within four
miles of them, and the Prince was again in hopes of
finding a French ship at Poolewe.
On the night of 1st August they set out northwards
and spent next day in Strathglass, where the Prince
rested in a tent made of fir-branches. They continued
on this route until 7th August, when, on a hill called
Beinn Acharain, they heard again that only one French
ship had reached Poolewe, and that it had sailed,
leaving behind two French officers who hoped to meet
the Prince in the region of Loch Eil. This information
led them to retrace their steps, which they did without
any adventure until they found themselves again in
the Braes of Glenmoriston on ,12th August. There
they were delayed by a party of soldiers" in Glengarry,
but the road was soon clear, and they went on without
difficulty except for heavy rain and want of pro-
visions. No food could be obtained, for the troops
had wasted the country and driven the inhabitants
into the hills. But in their utmost need, near Loch
Arkaig, one of the party shot a hart, on which they
u most deliciously feasted."
A storm and a glimpse of two war-ship forced them to land.
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 163
On 21st August, on the shores of Loch Arkaig,
Archibald Cameron, a brother of Lochiel, who had been
a physician in the Prince's army, and was afterwards
to give his life for the cause in London, brought to
the Prince two French officers who had landed at
Poolewe in June, and had been looking for him ever
since, but they could give him no information of any
value. Two days later, as the Prince lay sleeping,
he was told that a party of two hundred men were
close to him ; a friendly guard was believed to have
been placed and, as they had received no warning, they
concluded that there was treachery and that they were
surrounded. The Prince asked for Ms gun, and the
small party, eight in number, at once took up a position
on the hillside, determined to sell their lives dear*
" I was bred a fowler," said Charles. " I can charg
quick and am a tolerable marksman, and I can be sure
of one at least.** But the soldiers, after searching the
hut which the Prince had just left, went off in another
direction, and Charles lay down and slept peacefully
in the rain.
This was his last adventure, for the authorities were
giving up the search in despair. Cumberland had left
Fort Augustus on 18th July, and Ms successor as
commander-in-cMef, the Earl of Albemarle, wrota
164 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
from Fort Augustus to the Secretary of State on
12th August that he was to leave for Edinburgh next
day. "The last party I sent out/ 5 he explained
" (upon a report that the Pretender's son was in
Glen Dessary), returned last night without any tidings
of him, and I can make no conjecture of the place he
lies concealed in, therefore cannot help suspecting
he is gone off, either in some of the small French
vessels that have been hovering along the coast, or in
a boat to the Long Island. I shall march with the
troops, and not leave them till I see them quartered
at Perth, Stirling, and other places." On the day
the letter was written, the Prince was in Glenmoriston ;
three days later, at Loch Arkaig, he was not far from
Glen Dessary. He had crossed the head of Glen
Dessary on 19th July, and a report to this effect had
reached Albemarle much too late. The recall of the
troops for their southward march explains the com-
parative security of the fugitives, and about the same
time the militia regiments were disbanded after their
fruitless search.
On 27th August MacDonnell of Lochgarry and
Dr. Archibald Cameron guided the Prince into the
friendly country of duny Macpherson, where he was
to remain until the arrival of a French ship could be
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 165
definitely ascertained. Lochiel had a touching meet-
ing with him on 30th August. He knelt to greet his
Prince. " No, my dear Lochiel," said Charles, " you
don't know who may be looking from the tops of
yonder hills." They were entertained in LoehiePs
hiding-place, where the fugitive ate minced collops
out of a saucepan with a silver spoon and exclaimed
that at last he was living like a prince. Cluny himself
joined them on 1st September ; he had been originally
on the side of the Government, but had been captured
by the Jacobite army in August 1745, had joined the
Prince with his clan after Prestonpans, had marched
into England and fought at Falkirk, but had been too
late for Culloden. He took the Prince to a cunningly
devised refuge which he had provided to avoid the
dampness of a cave. Cluny's " cage " was situated
in some holly bushes on a rough hillside overlooking
Loch Ericht. The floor consisted of rows of felled trees,
made level with earth and gravel. Young trees
growing between the planks of the floor formed a
series of stakes, which served for the construction of a
thatched roof bound with ropes made of heather and
birch twigs. A large tree which rested on a rock lay
across the top of the hut and gave it the appearance
of a cage hanging from a tree. A crevice between two
166 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
stones formed a chimney, and the smoke of the peat
fire was so near in colour to the stones that it was
invisible. The hut was divided into two chambers,
of which the upper was the living room and the lower
served as a kitchen.
In this cage, with sentinels posted round, the Prince,
with Cluny, Lochiel, Dr. Cameron, and sis others,
lived pleasantly enough for a week. They had plenty
of provisions and found amusement in a pack of cards.
At one o'clock in the morning of 13th September, they
were roused by a messenger who reported the presence
of two French ships in Loch Nan Uamh. No time
was to be lost, and they set out at once for the coast
of South Morar, but they did not forget to send the
news to other fugitives who were in hiding among
them Neil Maceachain, who met them on the coast
and escaped with them*
It was still necessary to walk by night and hide by
day ; but one day the Prince, who had just received
three mounted firelocks which he had left in the course
of his wanderings, felt himself safe enough to challenge
Ms companions to a test of skill in marksmanship.
They threw their bonnets into the air and shot at
them, "in which diversion His Royal Highness far
exceeded." He played a poor practical joke on one
ESCAPE OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 167
of Ms followers, wrapping himself in a plaid and lying
on the floor of a hut at the entrance to which was a
large puddle. As his victim approached, the Prince
peeped out of the plaid ; and with a cry of " O Lord I
my Master ! " the unfortunate man fell into the puddle.
When they reached the river Lochy, he was greatly
delighted by being given some brandy which had been
brought from the enemy's garrison at Fort Augustus.
On 16th September they reached the ruins of Lochiel's
house at Achnacarry, which had been burned by
Cumberland, and on the 19th they were once more
at Borrodale. Cluny knew that he was safe in Ms own
wild country, and, shortly after midnight, he watched
the Prince, with LocMel and Dr. ArcMbald Cameron,
sail in the frigate Prince de Conti, whence they were
transferred to her slightly larger consort, ISHeureux.
The two French vessels had arrived in Loch Boisdale
on 5th September ; they had been searching for the
Prince for a fortnight, and their commanders were
beginning to despair of finding him.
All of Prince Charlie's companions who left records
of his wanderings testify to his courage and endurance.
** The Prince submitted with patience to Ms adverse
fortune, was cheerful, and frequently desired those
168 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
that were with him to be so. He was cautious when
in the greatest danger, never at a loss in resolving what
to do. He regretted more the distress of those who
suffered for adhering to his interest than the dangers
and hardships he was exposed to." If the record of
Prince Charlie's escape is honourable to himself, it is
not less honourable to the people who, at their gravest
peril, sheltered and protected him, and the unfor-
getable story which clings to Highland glens and
island shores speaks not of the Prince alone but also
of the men and women who saved him. Among the
things that abide is the memory of such as be faithful
in love.
VI
TWO APRICAN JOURNEYS
TWO AFRICAN JOURNEYS
Isr an ancient and closely settled land fateful journeys
are for the most part short ones. The key-points
of danger and safety are not far apart, and a mile or
two may be the margin between success and failure.
But in a country of infinite spaces the case is other-
wise, and such a country is Africa. Hence African
journeys against time have covered wide areas from
the days when Moses led the Children of Israel across
the Red Sea. They have naturally, too, been associated
with seasons of war. In this chapter I propose to tell
of two: one taken from the early history of Natal;
and the other from the Mashonaland Rebellion, the
last of those native wars which seriously threatened
the white settlements in the south of the continent.
In the thirties of last century South Africa was
disturbed by two great movements. One was the
in
172 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
rise of the military power of the Zulus, which began
when the exiled Dingiswayo, having seen British
soldiers in shakos drilling in. Cape Town, returned
to introduce something of their discipline and drill
among his countrymen. His successor, Tchaka, be-
came a kind of black Napoleon, eating up the neigh-
bouring tribes and acquiring their land and cattle,
and driving the broken remnants north of the Drakens-
berg. One of the principal of these refugees, Mosili-
katse, fled with his clan north of the Vaal, and became
the founder of that Matabele nation which we shall
hear of again. After Tchaka came Dingaan, an in-
ferior general, but formidable because he commanded
a vigorous nation in arms.
The other movement was caused by the restlessness
of the Dutch settlers in Cape Colony under British
rule. They disliked the British law which made the
black man and the white man equal in legal rights ;
they objected to taxation ; they were offended by
many novelties which threatened their old traditions.
So some of them took the bold step of moving with
their families north into the wilderness in search of
a land where they could live as in the old days.
The story of the Great Trek, a fine story on the
whole with many splendid tales in it of heroism against
TWO AFRICAN JOURNEYS 173
odds, does not concern us here. It suffices to say
that, after desperate battles with Mosilikatse, the
Boers drove him north of the Limpopo and began
the settlement of the countries which we know to-day
as the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Our
concern is with the little country of Natal lying to
the east of that no-man's-land of Kaflraria, where
native wars had been grumbling for thirty years.
Natal is a land of rich valleys lying between the
Drakensberg range and the sea. Just after it had
been devastated by Tchaka's armies, a small group of
British traders arrived at Durban Bay and founded
a tiny settlement, which managed to keep on good
terms with the Zulu king. In 1834 they petitioned
the British Government that the country should be
occupied as a British colony, but on financial grounds
the British Government declined. Next year ap-
peared a certain Captain Allen Gardiner, an ex-officer
of the Royal Navy, who had devoted his life to mis-
sionary work. He visited Dingaan's court, but found
the soil there unfruitful; so he settled on the coast
and was one of the founders of the port of Durban,
named in honour of Sir Benjamin D'Urban, the Gover-
nor of Cape Colony. Money was raised for clearing
the bush and improving the town, and those who had
174 ESt APES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
ao money to subscribe gave one week's work. Among
the latter was a young Englishman, by name Dick
King, who acted as Captain Gardiner's wagon driver.
Of him we shall presently hear.
When the Great Trek began a party of Boers, under
the famous Pieter Uys, trekked through Kaffraria
and reached Durban, There they were warmly wel-
comed by the few British settlers, and on their return
to Cape Colony they gave a glowing account of the
Promised Land they had discovered. But the main
Boer emigration did not take that direction. When
the Boers entered Natal in force, they came from
the north through the Drakensberg passes under the
leadership of Pieter Retief. Retief also received a
hearty welcome at Durban, and paid a visit to Din-
gaan's court in order to arrange for the occupation
by his countrymen of some of the land along the
Tugela River. The Zulus were purely a nation of
soldiers and cattle-owners, and most of the best land
in the country was untilled.
The story of the Boers in Natal is one long tragedy.
Retief and his company of 200 Boers visited Dingaan's
kraal on the 3rd February 183S, and were inconti-
nently massacred. The women and children and the
rest of the party were scattered at various points in
TWO AFRICAN JOURNEYS 175
the Tugela valley, and thither the Zulu regiments of
the Black Shields and the White Shields hastened to
complete the slaughter. Whole families were butchered
and few indeed were the survivors. The district is
still known as Weenen, the " place of weeping," so
called by the Boers in memory of a hideous tragedy.
But Dingaan had found an enemy far tougher in
fibre than the Kafir chieftains he had subdued. There
were other Boer leaders, who would not rest till they
had avenged their countrymen. Two of these, Hen-
drik Potgeiter and Pieter Uys, who had just defeated
Mosilikatse, at once crossed the Drakensberg. The
first affair was disastrous, for tl^ey were badly beaten.
Then the English from Durban attempted a diversion,
but they too were defeated by Panda, half-brother
to Dingaan, on the Tugela. It looked as if the British
settlement was at the mercy of the conqueror, and
presently the Zulus were in Durban, looting and de-
stroying, while the settlers had retired to a brig in the
bay. They were safe there, however, for every Zulu
has a horror of water.
But an avenger was on his way. This was Andries
Pretorius, a man of a grim and patient valour, like
some Old Testament hero. He raised a new Boer
commaaido, and in November 1838, with 400 men,
176 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
crossed the Tugela. The Boers held a solemn religious
service, and vowed that if the Lord gave them victory
they would keep the day of it sacred as a Sabbath in
each year. On the 15th December celebrated ever
since by the South African Dutch as Dingaan's Day
Pretorius met the Zulu impis on the banks of the
Blood River. The 400 disciplined men, all first-class
shots, utterly defeated the black army of many thou-
sands ; and when victory was won they showed little
mercy to an enemy whom they regarded as accursed
of heaven. Among the Boers only three were wounded,
while the victors counted over 3,000 Zulu dead.
Dingaan fled into the eastern hills, and Pretorius,
marching upon the royal kraal, buried the remains
of Retief and his companions, which he found bleach-
ing in the sun.
Natal, except for the British settlement on the
coast, was now effectively occupied by the Boer emi-
grants. This raised an awkward problem for Britain
and the Cape Colony Government. Under English
law a subject of the Crown cannot, by adventuring
in the waste places of the earth, acquire sovereignty
for himself, but only for his king. The British Govern-
ment, therefore, could not acknowledge the indepen-
dent republic which Pretorius and his Mends had set
TWO AFRICAN JOURNEYS 177
tip in Natal, and they could not admit that the Boer
emigrants, by leaving British territory, had thereby
thrown off British allegiance. They therefore re-
solved to send a small expedition to take possession
of Durban and restore order in the country.
In December 1838, Major Charters, with a company
of the 72nd Highlanders and three guns, landed there
and erected a fort on the Point. While, therefore,
Pretorius was breaking Dingaan on the Blood River,
the British flag was being hoisted at Durban. Pres-
ently Major Charters withdrew, leaving only a smaE
body of troops behind Mm, under Captain Jervis.
Jervis was an honest man who earnestly desired to
arrange a peace between the Zulus and the Boers,
This, however, was soon seen to be impossible. Thd
Boer regarded the Zulu as the Israelite regarded the
Canaanite, an enemy whom it was his religious duty
to extirpate. The British Government withdrew the
handful of troops i and no sooner had they gone
than the Boers hoisted their own flag on the British
flagstaff and proclaimed the Republic of Natalia*
After that the doings of Pretorius and his men
became less creditable. Dingaan was unquestionably
a brutal and treacherous scoundrel; but the Boers
used his own methods against him when they drove
178 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
him out of the country to exile and death and set up
his half-brother Panda in his stead. The truth is
that, while many of the leaders of the Great Trek were
men of the highest character, a number of common
brigands and adventurers made up the tail of the
expeditions. The new republic marched from con-
fidence to confidence, and in its relations with Britain
showed an arrogance not unnatural perhaps in those
who had fought so stubborn a battle.
Presently came a crisis. Some of the Kafir tribes
whom Tchaka and Dingaan had expelled began to
drift back to Natal, and the Boers, denying all right
in the land to its former masters, resolved to settle
them in a district south of the Natal border, in what
is now the province of Pondoland. There lived a
chief called Faku, who, to his surprise, was suddenly
attacked by a Boer commando and lost 150 of his
men and 3,000 of his cattle. He complained to the
Wesleyan missionaries who had settled under his pro-
tection, and they forwarded a complaint to the Gov-
ernment of Cape Colony, The situation had become
serious, for it looked as if the Boers in Natal were about
to set a spark to the powder magazine of Kaffraria,
the dangers of which Cape Colony knew only too welL
Accordingly a small British force of 250 men, under
TWO AFBICAN JOURNEYS 179
Captain Smith, was ordered to march to Durban. He
arrived in Natal in March 1842, and without inter-
ference took possession of the fort on the Point and
pitched his camp outside the town about half a mile
from the sea.
Pretorius and his men instantly challenged his
authority, and presently the little force was besieged.
Captain Smith resolved to make a night attack on the
Boer headquarters ; but the English regulars proved
less adroit than the Boer sharpshooters and were
driven back with considerable losses. A short truce
was arranged to bury the dead ; and it became very
clear that unless relief came at once the British would
soon be driven into the sea.
The difficulty was to get news of the situation to
the British authorities* It was impossible to send
by water, and 600 miles of savage country lay between
Durban and the first Cape Colony settlement of Gra-
hamstown. That country was Kaffraria, full of angry
native tribes, bitterly hostile to the Boers, and for the
most part scarcely less hostile to the British. More-
over, the Boer lines lay around the town, and it might
be no easy task to pass them. But Grahamstown
was the only hope, and volunteers were asked for
to make the perilous journey. Dick Bang, the man
180 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
wliom we have seen as Captain Gardiner's wagoner,
responded. He was a man of wiry physique, sound
veldcraft, and above all he had mixed much with
the Kafirs and knew most of their tongues. Two
of the best troop horses in Captain Smith's force were
selected, and in the evening were rowed across Durban
Bay.
Such is the sequence of events which led to Dick
King's great ride. When he was ferried over the
twilit waters of the bay he was engaged on an errand
even more fateful than he thought. He believed that
he was only doing a brave man's part in getting help
for sorely tried comrades ; but in truth he was settling
the fate of the colony of Natal. The British Govern-
ment at home were averse to any expansion of territory,
and above all averse to becoming involved in a war.
Had the stockade at Durban fallen, in all likelihood
they would have done nothing further, but made
terms with Pretorius and recognized his republic.
That would have meant that Natal would have de-
veloped as a Dutch state instead of being the most
purely English colony in South Africa. The fate of
the little country was involved in one man's ride.
Bang's task seemed in the last degree impossible.
There was no chance of getting fresh mounts, so he
TWO AFRICAN JOURNEYS 181
must ride each horse in turn and lead the other, and
somehow nurse the two beasts over 600 miles. The
country was for the most part grassy down-land,
broken by rocky ridges and furrowed by deep rivers
descending from the Drakensberg. Over these rivers
there were no bridges and few fords. There were no
roads, only native tracks. All the tribes were sus-
picious and most of them hostile. Above all there was
desperate need for haste, and a man in a hurry must
go blindly. He has no time to make wide circuits
and take proper precautions for secrecy.
Before daybreak King had crossed the Umkomangi
River and was well started, For food he had to trust
to mealie-pap at Kafir kraals, and that meant he must
keep on the good side of the different tribes he met.
Two advantages he had his complete knowledge of
their speech, and the fact that scattered among them
were various Wesleyan missionaries who might be
trusted to befriend him. He was also on the side
which, on the whole, they favoured, for memories
of Pretorius's raid on Faku were still bitter in the
countryside. Probably no living man but he could
have made the journey, and as it fell out he had little
trouble with the Kafirs. The Amabaka tribe did,
indeed, take Mm prisoner under the belief that he was
182 ESCAPES AND HUBRIED JOURNEYS
a Boer ; but when they found that he was British they
at once released him.
His main difficulties were the pathless country and
the great distance. Wild animals, which have now
been driven into the far north, were then as thick
in the countryside as they are to-day in a game pre-
serve. Elephants roamed in the patches of forest ;
there were lions in every thicket ; and the African
buffalo, almost the most dangerous of African beasts,
filled the river marshes. To an old hunter, however,
wild beasts are the least of perils in the bush, for they
will rarely attack one who appears to have no hostile
purpose. But the rivers were full with the rains from
the hills, and he had to swim them from bank to bank.
Also it was no light task, even for an old hunter, to
find his way in a pathless land, where a false turn
might lead him into impenetrable marshes or jungles
where every yard had to be fought for.
Poor food and excessive fatigue soon began to tell
upon his strength. In a ride against time a man's
nerves are highly strung, and this adds greatly to the
physical burden. About the third day he began to
suffer from chill and fever, and the wait-a-bit thorns
and prickly-pear scrub began to dance before his eyes.
Every one who has ridden through the African bush
TWO AFRICAN JOURNEYS 183
with fever on Mm knows the misery of the experience
the blinding headache, the unbearable thirst, the
shivering fits which make it difficult to keep in the
saddle. King forced his body to its utmost limits ;
but he was compelled every now and then to He down
and rest. One or two missionaries whom he encoun-
tered doctored him as best they could ; but altogether
the better part of two days was wasted in bouts of
illness.
Nevertheless the iron spirit of the man prevailed.
Allowing for the delays caused by illness, he and Ms
two horses did an average of not less than eighty
miles a day. On the ninth day after leaving Durban
he stumbled into the little settlement of Grahamstown,
half blind with fatigue and fever, but able to give the
message wMch was to save his comrades.
Colonel Hare, lieutenant-Governor of the Eastern
Province, was not a man to waste time. He at once
ordered the Grenadier company of the 27th Regiment
to proceed from Port Elizabeth to Durban, and Sir
George Napier immediately afterwards sent the 25th
Regiment from the Cape. Exactly one month from
King's start a British sMp carrying reinforcements
sailed into Durban Bay and found the British flag still
flying, BIck King's wild ride had not been in vain.
184 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
n
In March 1896 a grave native rebellion broke out
in Matabeleland, the south-western portion of the
then new colony of Rhodesia. A rebellion of some
sort was almost inevitable. Though their chief,
Lobengula, had been defeated, the Matabele people
had never been really conquered ; and as white civili-
zation and white settlement began to spread through-
out the country it was certain that a warlike race
would not accept the overthrow of their old life
without a further struggle. Three months later the
rebellion spread to the north-western province of
Mashonaland, and there the number of independent
and isolated tribes made the task of suppression more
difficult. The chief town of Mashonaland is Salis-
bury, but scattered in the country round were a number
of embryo townships connected by precarious roads.
Everywhere there was a large native population,
and the white residents were separated by many miles
of difficult country from their fellows.
The first threat of trouble in Mashonaland began
in the Hartley Hill district to the south-west of Salis-
bury. As always happens with native risings, it
spread rapidly to districts hundreds of miles distant.
He and Ms two horses did an average of not less than
eighty miles a day.
TWO AFRICAN JOURNEYS 185
About 14th June Salisbury was thoroughly alarmed,
and provision was made for its defence. It was an
extremely scattered town, and the outlying houses
had to be relinquished and the whole population
brought into a central laager. On the night of the
18th the homestead of the Yicomtesse de la Panouse,
two miles from the town, was visited by a party of
rebels. The Vicomtesse only escaped by hiding in
the grass and creeping into Salisbury under cover of
night.
Our story begins a week later, on the highroad which
ran from Salisbury to TTmtali on the Portuguese border.
Along this road were various stores and settlements,
the chief being at a place called Marandellas, some
forty or fifty miles down the road. On the morning
of 16th June Miss Carter, a Salisbury lady, left Salis-
bury for Umtali in a passenger wagon, accompanied
by Mr. Lamb, three other white men, two natives, and
a Cape driver. On the 18th the down coach for Um-
tali passed them, but the driver had no news to give
them of the troubles which were then beginning on
the other side of Salisbury.
When they reached Marandellas they found the
Vicomte de la Panouse with a party and a large
wagon laden with stores. They also received a
186 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
note from the station of Headlands, some twenty
miles on, urging them to return to Salisbury as
the Mashonas were everywhere rising. At first they
were inclined to disregard the warning. But they
returned to Marandellas, where they received an-
other message begging them to waste no time in
getting back. Again they hesitated, for Marandellas
seemed a very safe retreat, since it held a large supply
of ammunition. Discretion, however, prevailed, and
they moved out on the Salisbury road, where they
overtook the Vicomte de la Panouse and his party.
It was resolved that they would travel back together,
for the Vicomte had with him three white men, and
there was also an ox-wagon with several attendants
anxious to join in the convoy.
The Vicomte's wagon, which was drawn by don-
keys and was very heavily laden, moved slowly, and
it was not till the afternoon of the following day that
it reached the store of Messrs. Graham and White.
Here they realized for the first time their imminent
danger. AH the native boys had gone, and one who
had crawled through to warn Mr. Graham had had a
hard fight and was badly wounded. The party made
a laager round the store, and the night passed peace-
fully. Next morning they begged Mr. Graham to
TWO AFRICAN JOURNEYS 187
accompany them to Salisbury. He refused, however,
believing that he was quite able to hold the place.
The following day he was attacked and murdered as
he was escaping into the veld.
That Monday morning, after leaving Sir, Graham's
store, the sentry whom they had placed on the top of
Mr. Lamb's wagon, pointed out several black forms
in the distance. The wagons moved peacefully along
for some six miles, and then outspanned for the mid-
day rest. By this time their field-glasses showed the
party large numbers of natives massing, all of whom
seemed to be armed. After that the wagons kept
close together. When they had gone another mile
they came upon a horrible sight. Lying in the road
were three mutilated bodies, which proved to be
those of a store-keeper, Mr. Weyer, his wife, and Ms
child ; a little farther on lay the body of another
child hideously maltreated. As the twilight was ap-
proaching there was no time to bury the dead, and
all that could be done was to place the poor remains
together and to cover them with sand and some
branches of trees. The bodies were all in sleeping gar-
ments, so it seemed that they had been murdered
during the past night when trying to escape.
This grim sight, seen in the bright South African
188 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
twilight, brought awe into the hearts of the little band.
Darkness was falling ; all round them was the thick
bushveld. The Vicomte's wagon was heavily laden
and could only move slowly, and all the animals were
tired. The Vicomte lightened Ms load by flinging
away some of his goods, and they had barely resumed
their journey, when, looking back, they saw a large
body of natives carrying off the abandoned flour. Mr.
Lamb climbed to the top of his wagon and had the
satisfaction of seeing one fall to his rifle. The enemy
returned the fire, wounding one of the donkeys.
It was now fairly clear that unless they could move
faster the whole convoy was doomed, so it became
necessary to jettison the whole wagon load. The
Vicomte did this unwillingly, but there was no other
course. His donkeys were unharnessed and driven on
in front ; the other wagon was also left derelict., and
the oxen from it inspanned in front of Mr. Lamb's
donkeys. Behind them they could hear loud shouts
as the rebels looted the discarded wagons.
Suddenly fire was opened upon them from the bushes
on the right hand, and a brisk exchange of shots took
place. It was now very dark, and as they crawled
along the road a perpetual fusillade was kept up.
Happily they had several good dogs with them, who
TWO AFRICAN JOURNEYS 189
were sent into the roadside bush and so gave early
notice of an ambuscade. Presently the enemy fire
died away ; the moon came out, and at a better pace
the convoy reached Law's Store.
It was now about 11 p.m. They found the place
deserted and looted ; but it was possible to make of
it some kind of protection for the night. A few outer
huts were burnt in order to give a field of fire ; the
animals were secured in a laager, and the party took
refuge in one of the rooms* Pickets were posted, three
at a time in two watches. The Cape boys lit fires
before and behind the house, which were a comfort to
the pickets, for the night had the bitter cold of a
Rhodesian winter.
At 2 a.m. nest morning a Cape boy, badly wounded,
crawled up. He had escaped from a neighbouring
farm, and had been fighting since 6 a.m. the previous
morning. At 4 a.m. all the men of the party went on
guard till daybreak. As soon as the first light ap-
peared the convoy started, and they had not gone a
mile, when, looking back, they saw a huge cloud of
smoke ascending from Law's Store. The rebels had
closed in behind them and burned the place.
All morning they crept along the road, being fired
afc from every patch, of bush. One shot passed be-
190 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
tween the Vicomte and Mr. Lamb, killing a dog as it
talked between them ; another passed through the
side of the passenger wagon in front of Miss Carter,
and then below the armpit of one of the Cape boys.
These Cape boys, let it be said, showed throughout
this adventure, and throughout the whole rebellion,
the utmost courage and fidelity.
No one of the party believed at this time that they
would ever arrive at Salisbury. The next station on
the road was a place called Ballyhooley, and just
before reaching it they had a serious fight, where one
of the Cape boys managed to shoot the rebel leader.
Ballyhooley they found deserted and looted. There
they had hoped to meet relief parties from Salisbury ;
but none were there, and the passenger wagon, drawn
by its donkeys and oxen, crawled on again, the men
tramping alongside in the dust. At every turn of the
road, and in every patch of scrub they feared to meet
their fate.
They were now only three miles from the town,
when to their horror they saw a large number of rebels
massed together. For a little they had a terrible fear
that Salisbury might have fallen. But fatigue and
anxiety had by now dulled their senses, and they had
mercifully ceased to realize their peril. They stopped
TWO AFRICAN JOURNEYS 191
for a little to allow the Cape boys to detach the oxen
from the wagon, so that they might be turned loose,
and while they did so a crowd of natives swarmed on
the kopjes above them. Then they moved on, and as
they emerged from the hilla they came in sight of
Salisbury, which seemed to be a town of the dead.
But suddenly in the middle distance they observed
three or four mounted men galloping towards them.
They saw that they were friends, and presently they
realized that the defences of Salisbury were still intact,
and that at last they had found sanctuary.
The little party had come out of the very jaws of
death. Behind and around them for three days had
been the enemy, flushed with success, confident that
the days of the white man in the land were numbered ;
every little storehouse and farmstead was in ruins,
every inn was a heap of charred timbers and burned
stores and broken bottles. They had to move at the
slow pace set by tired oxen and donkeys. The odds
were all against them when they left MarandeUas, and
they won through only by -virtue of that tenacity of
t pint which obstinately refuses to despair.
vn
THE GREAT MONTROSE
THE GREAT MONTROSE
THE story of the paladin of Scottish history, the man
whom Cardinal de Retz thought equal to any of the
heroes of antiquity, is scarcely to be equalled for
swift drama in the records of any land. James Graham,
the first Marquis of Montrose, began his marvellous
career at the age of thirty-two, and crowded into two
years the campaigns which made him master of Scot-
land. He died on the scaffold when he was only
thirty-eight, leaving behind bin) the reputation of
perhaps the greatest soldier ever born north of the
Tweed, and certainly one of the purest and most chival-
rous figures in his country's annals. Few men have
ever covered country with his lightning speed, and the
whole tale of his exploits is a tale of escapes and hurried
journeys, I propose to tell of two episodes in Ms
short career, but I would add that they are no more
stirring than a dozen others.
196 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
In 1643 the English Civil War began. Sir John
Hotham shut the gates of Hull in the King's face. On
the 22nd of August Charles raised the Royal Standard
at Nottingham, and on 22nd October was fought the
Battle of Edgehill. Montrose had originally been a
Covenanter that is, he had signed the National
Covenant which protested against the imposition of
a foreign church system on Scotland. He commanded
an army in the first Covenant War, but as time went
on he began to see that more was involved in the
struggle than the question of liturgies. He realized
that the Church in Scotland was beginning to make
claims which meant the complete abolition of civil
government. He therefore drew towards the King's
side, and there began that antagonism with the Mar-
quis of ArgyE which was inevitable between two men
with such different temperaments and creeds.
In the early winter of 1643 he joined the King's
court at Oxford, and proposed to Charles "to raise
Scotland " on his behalf. It looked a crazy proposal,
for even then the Scottish army was over the Border
in arms against the King, and the Covenant held
every city north of Tweed. The few loyalists who
THE GREAT MONTROSE 197
still stood out were mostly vain nobles who had some
personal quarrel with the other side. But such was
the ardour of the young Montrose that he Impressed
the King and his graver councillors lite Hyde and
Endymion Porter. He asked for little help. Lord
Antrim was to raise troops in Ireland and land in the
west of Scotland to keep Argyll occupied in his own
country. Montrose himself hoped to borrow a body
of horse from Newcastle's army in the north to help
him to cut his way through the Lowlands to the High-
land line. Charles consented, and Antrim was sent
to Ulster, with instructions to land 2,000 troops in
Argyll by April 1, 1644. Montrose was made lieutenant-
general of the King's forces in Scotland, and on a March
morning in 1644 he left Oxford by the north road to
win a kingdom for his master.
When St. Theresa, as a child, set out to convert
the Moors, she was engaged in an adventure scarcely
less hopeful than that which Montrose had now set
himself. Where was he to find troops ? The best
of the old professional soldiers were with Leven. He
could get nothing in the Scottish Lowlands, for on
them the Kirk had laid an iron hand. The nobles
and the gentry were jealous and self-centred. An-
trim's Ulstermen would do more harm than good;
198 ESCAPES AOT) HURRIED JOURNEYS
for though most of them were Scots and Mac-
donalds, they were Catholics and would drive every
Presbyterian to the other side. There was no solid
hope anywhere save in the soul of the adventurer.
He flung himself into a hostile country without a
base, without troops, without munitions, in the
hope that his fiery spirit would create armies out of
nothing.
He reached Newcastle's camp safely and found
that things there were going badly. Newcastle could
only offer him 100 ill-mounted troopers and two brass
cannon a poor outfit for the conquest of Scotland.
He managed to raise some of the northern militia and
a band of local gentlemen, and with 1,300 men he
crossed the Border in April and took Dumfries. There,
however, he could not stay. The gentry of Nithsdale
and Annandale would not stir, and he was compelled
to return to England, where he found that Newcastle
had flung himself into York and was closely beset by
Leven, Fairfax, and Manchester. With a handful of
men he captured Morpeth, and presently he received
a summons from Prince Rupert, who was then marching
through Lancashire to the relief of York. He set
off to join him, but before they met the King's cause
had suffered its first disaster. Rupert indeed relieved
THE GREAT MONTROSE 199
York, but on the 2nd July about five in the afternoon
lie met the Parliamentary forces on Marston Moor
and discovered that new thing in England the shock
of Cromwell's horse. His army was scattered ; New-
castle fled overseas ; and he himself, with some 6,000
troops, rode westward into Wales. Two days after
the battle Montrose found him in an inn at Richmond,
in Yorkshire ; but Rupert had nothing to give. On
the contrary, he stood much in need of Montrose's
scanty recruits. So with a sad heart Montrose rode
by Brough and Appleby to Carlisle, to write his report
of failure to the King.
Four months had passed and nothing had been
achieved. The news from Scotland was the worst
conceivable. The land lay quiet under the Covenant,
and Antrim's levies seemed to have vanished into the
air. The nobles were tumbling over each other in
their anxiety to swear fealty to Argyll. There seemed
nothing to be done except to surrender the royal com-
mission and go abroad to wait for happier times. So
his friends advised, and Montrose made a pretence of
acquiescing. He set out for the south with his friends,
but a mile out of Carlisle he slipped behind, and, as his
servants and baggage went on, it was presumed that
lie was following. It was as well that he stopped,
200 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
for the rest of the party were captured by Fairfax at
Ribble Bridge.
He had resolved on the craziest of adventures. He
would break through the Covenanting cordon in the
Lowlands and win to his own country of Perthshire,
where lived his kinsmen. There, at any rate, were
loyal hearts, and something might be devised to turn
the tide. He chose as his companions Sir William
Rollo, who was lame, and Colonel Sibbald, who had
served under him before. These two wore the dress
of Leven's troopers, while Montrose followed behind
as their groom, riding one ill-conditioned horse and
leading another.
It was a dangerous road to travel. The country
was strewn with broken men and patrolled by Cove-
nanting dragoons, and a gentleman in those days was
not so easily disguised. At first all went smoothly.
The disreputable clan of the Grahams held the lower
Esk, and as the three rode through the woods of Neth-
erby they learned that its chief. Sir Richard Graham,
had joined the Covenant and appointed himself Warden
of the Marches. This they had from one of his ser-
vants, who spoke freely to them as to Leven's troopers.
A little farther on they fell in with a Scot, one of
Newcastle's soldiers, who, to their consternation, dis-
THE GEEAT MONTROSE 201
regarded Rollo and Sibbald, but paid great attention
to the groom and hailed him by Ms proper title. Mon-
trose tried to deny it ; but the man exclaimed, " What !
do I not know my Lord Marquis of Montrose well
enough ? Go your way and God be with you." A
gold piece rewarded the untimely well-wisher.
The journey grew daily more anxious till the Forth
was passed. " It may be thought," says Patrick
Gordon, a Royalist historian, " that God Almighty
sent His good angel to lead the way, for he went, as if
a cloud had environed him, through all his enemies."
We do not know the exact route they travelled, whether
by Annandale and then by Tweed or Clyde, or up
Eskdale and thence over the Tweedside range to the
Lothians. Probably they went by the former and
followed the belt of moorland which runs north,
by Carnwath almost to the Highland hills. From
Carlisle to Perth is a hundred miles, and the party
rode by day and night, keeping, we may suppose,
away from towns and villages and frequented parts
of the highway.
On the fourth day they came to the Montrose lands
in Stirling and Strathearn, but they did not draw rein
till they reached the house of Tullibelton between
Perth and Dunkeld. Here lived Patrick Graham of
202 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Inchbrakie, one of the best loved of all Montrose's kin,
and here at any rate was safe shelter for the traveller
while he spied out the land and looked about for an
army.
So the curtain rises, and the first act of the great
drama reveals a forlorn little party late on an August
evening knocking at the door of a woodland tower
about the shining reaches of Tay. The Bong's lieu-
tenant-general makes a very modest entry on the
scene. Two followers, four sorry screws, little money,
and no baggage, seem a slender outfit for the conquest
of a kingdom ; but in six months he was to see
Scotland at his feet.
For six days the royal lieutenant lay in close hiding,
spending most of his time in the woods and hollows,
sleeping at night in hunters' bothies. The scouts
he had sent out returned with a melancholy tale.
Huntly in the north had made a mess of it, and the
Gordons were leaderless and divided. Even some of
the Graham and Drummond kinsmen were in arms
against the King. There were rumours of a Covenant
army in Aberdeenshire, and Argyll in the west had
his clan in arms. Montrose wondered at this strange
activity. The battleground now was England, and,
THE GREAT MONTROSE 203
with. Scotland in so iron a grip, these elaborate military
precautions seemed needless.
He was soon to learn the reason. As he was one
day in the wood of Methven, sleeping the night there,
he fell into a great despondency of spirit. While
he reflected upon the hopelessness of his case, he
suddenly saw a man carrying a fiery cross and making
for the town of Perth. He stopped him and inquired
what the matter was. The messenger told him that
Alastair MacDonald of Ulster, commonly called Col-
kitto (a corruption of the Gaelic word meaning " Coll
who can fight with either hand "), had come into Atholl
with a great army of Irish. At last Antrim's levies
had come out of the mist. Presently Montrose had
a letter from Alastair MacDonald himself, directed
to him at Carlisle, announcing his arrival and asking
for instructions.
If Montrose needed help, no less did the Irish com-
mander. He had landed in July in Ardnamurchan,
on the west coast, and proceeded to ravage the Camp-
bell lands. His ships were all destroyed, so he re-
solved, being in a desperate situation, to march across
Scotland and join the Gordons. But in Lochaber he
heard that the Gordons had made their peace with the
Covenant, and the other northern clans, like the Mac-
204 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
kenzies, nad no love for Alastair's tartan and would
have nothing to do with him. Headed back on all
sides, Alastair decided that the holdest course was the
safest. He marched to the head-waters of the Spey
and issued a summons calling on the clans to rise in
the names of the King and Huntly. This brought
him 500 recruits, most of them Gordons; but the
other clans refused and blocked the road down the
Spey.
He now seemed in a fair way to be exterminated.
The Campbells intercepted his retreat to the sea, and
Argyll was hot-foot on his track. The Mackenzies
cut Mm off from the north and east, his new levies
were mutinous and distrustful, and south lay the
unfriendly Lowlands and clans like the Stewarts of
Atholl, who would never serve under any leader of
an alien name. He had proved that, whoever might
band the Highlands into an army, it would not be a
man of Highland blood. Hence his despairing letter
to the lieutenant-general asking for instructions and
help. He can scarcely have hoped for much from his
appeal, for Carlisle was a long way from Badenoch
and he had the enemy on every side.
Montrose sent an answer, bidding Alastair be of
good heart and await him at Blair. The latter obeyed
THE GREAT MONTROSE 205
and marched into Atholl, but the local clans resented
his appearance. The fiery cross was sent round, and
there seemed every chance of a desperate conflict
between two forces who alike detested the Covenant
and followed the King.
The situation was saved by a hairbreadth. Mon-
trose, accompanied by Patrick Graham the younger
of Inchbrakie Black Pate, as the countryside called
him set off on foot over the "Mils to keep the tryst.
He had acquired from Inchbrakie a Highland dress
the trews, a short coat, and a plaid round his shoulders.
He wore, we are told, a blue bonnet with a bunch of
oats as a badge, and he carried a broadsword and a
Highland buckler. Thus accoutred he entered upoa
the scene in the true manner of romance, unlooked-
for and invincible.
Alastair and his ragged troops were waiting hourly
on battle, when across the moor they saw two figures
advancing. Black Pate was known to every Atholl
man, and there were many who had seen Montrose.
Loud shouts of welcome apprised the Ulsterman that
here was no bonnet laird, but when he heard that it
was indeed the "King's lieutenant he could scarcely
believe his ears. He had looked for cavalry, an
imposing bodyguard, and a figure more like Ms own
206 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
swashbuckling self than this slim young man with the
quiet face and searching grey eyes.
In a moment all quarrels were forgotten. Mon-
trose produced his commission and Alastair promptly
took service under him, thankful to be out of a plight
which for weeks had looked hopeless. The AthoU
Highlanders were carried off their feet by the grace
and fire of their new leader, and 800 of them brought
to his side those broadswords which that morning
had been dedicated to cutting Ulster throats. Next
morning the Royal Standard was unfurled on a green
knoll above the river Tilt. The King's lieutenant had
got Mm an army.
n
I pass over the next two months. On the 1st Sep-
tember, with his ill-assorted forces, he met the Cove-
nant army under Lord Elcho at Tippermuir, near
Perth, and scattered it to the winds. Then he marched
to Aberdeen, and on the 13th of that month soundly
defeated another army under Lord Balfour of Bur-
leigh. Thereafter his difficulties increased. He found
that Ms Lowland gentlemen began to slip away, for
they had no love for a mid- winter campaign conducted
at Montrose's incredible pace. Moreover, Alastair
THE GREAT MONTROSE 207
went off on an expedition of Ms own to the west, and
the rest of the Highlanders had private grievances,
the avenging of which they thought of far greater
moment than any royal necessities.
The end of November came ; the heavy rains in
the glens told of the beginning of winter, and the hill**
were whitened with snow. Argyll was at Dunkeld,
and for a moment the campaign languished. Then
one morning at Blair, Alastair's pipes announced Ms
return, bringing with him the rest of Ms Ulstermen
and a considerable levy of the western clans Mac-
Donalds of Glengarry, Keppoch, and Ganranald,
Macleans from Morvern and Mull, Stewarts from
Appin, and Camerons from Lochaber. The clans
had only one object, to take order with Argyll, for
they hated the house of Diarmaid far more than the
Covenant. Now was the time to avenge ancient
wrongs and to break the pride of a cMef who had
boasted that no mortal enemy could enter his country.
The hour had come when the fray must be carried to
Lorn.
Montrose had that supreme virtue in a commander
wMch recognizes facts. He could not maintain his
army without wtx, and Lowland war they would not
as yet listen to. If he looked to their help in the
208 ESCAPES AJOTD HUEEIED JOURNEYS
future he must whet their valour and rivet their
loyalty by fresh successes. In return for their assist-
ance in the King's quarrel they must have the help
of the King's lieutenant in their own. Besides, the
plan could be justified on other grounds of strategy
and politics. A blow at the Campbells in their own
country would shatter Argyll's not too robust nerve,
and put fear into the heart of the Covenant.
But it was the wildest of wild adventures. Clan
Campbell was the largest, most prosperous, and most
civilized of all the Highland peoples. Indeed, they
formed almost a separate state, and it was not with-
out reason that Argyll had boasted that his land was
impregnable. Strategically it had every advantage.
On the eastern side, where it looked to the Lowlands,
there were the castles of Eoseneath and Duhoon to
keep watch, and deep sea lochs to hinder the invader.
South and west lay the sea, and the Campbells had
what little navy existed in Scotland at the time. North
* lay a land of high mountains and difficult passes, where
no man could travel save by permission of the sovereign
lord. Moreover, the Campbells of Lochow and Glen-
orchy had flung their tentacles over Breadalbane and
held the glens around the head waters of Tay. There
might be a raid of Macgregors or Maclarens on the
Across the moor tney saw two figures advancing.
THE GREAT MONTROSE 209
east, or a foray from Appin on Loch Etiye side but
it seemed that not even the King and his am
could get much beyond the gates. " It is a fai cr,
to Lochow," so ran the Campbell watchword, and it>
was a farther cry to Inveraray.
When Montrose assented to Alastair's wishes he
resolved to strike straight at the enemy's heart. He
would wage war not on the outskirts but in the citadel.
Through Breadalbane ran a possible route among wild
glens and trackless bogs, which at this winter season
would be deep in snow. This was the old raiding road
out of Lorn, and Argyll flattered himself that his clan
alone had the keys of it. But with Montrose were men
who had made many a midnight foray into the Camp-
bell country, and who knew every corrie and scaur
as well as any son of Diarmaid. A Glencoe man,
Angus MacAlain Dubh, is named by tradition as the
chief guide, and he promised Montrose that his army
could live well on the country, " if tight houses, fat
cattle, and clear water will suffice."
From Blair, past the shores of Loch Tay swept the
advance till the confines of Breadalbane were reached
and a country that owned Campbell sway. Up Glen
Dochart they went, following much the same road
as the present railway line to Oban, past Crianlarich
210 ESCAPES AND HUEEIED JOURNEYS
and Tyndrum, and into the glens of Orchy. It was
a raid of vengeance, and behind them rose the flames
of burning roof-trees. Presently Loch Awe lay before
them under a leaden winter sky, and soon the little
peels of the lochside lairds smoked to heaven. It
was a cruel business, save that the women and children
were spared. All fighting men were slain or driven
to the high hills, every cot and clachan was set alight,
and rows of maddened cattle attested the richness of
the land and the profit of the invaders. It was High-
land warfare of the old barbarous type, no worse and
no better than that which Argyll had already carried
to Lochaber and Badenoch and the Braes of Angus.
Argyll was well served by Ms scouts, and to him at
Edinburgh word was soon brought of Montrose's march
to Breadalbane. He must have thought it a crazy
venture ; now at last was his enemy delivered into
his hands. No human army could cross the winter
passes even if it had the key ; and the men of
Glenorchy would wipe out the starving remnants at
their leisure. Full of confidence he posted across
Scotland to Inveraray. There he found that all was
quiet. Eumours of a foray in Lorn were indeed rife,
but the burghers of Inveraray, strong in their genera-
tions of peace, had no fear for themselves. Argyll
THE GREAT MONTROSE 211
saw to the defences of the castle, and called a great
gathering of the neighbouring clansmen to provide
reinforcements, if such should be needed, for the Glen-
orchy and Breadalbane men, who by this time had
assuredly made an end of Montrose.
Suddenly came a thunderbolt. Wild-eyed shep-
herds rushed into the streets with the cry that the
MacDonalds were upon them. Quickly the tale flew.
Montrose was not in Breadalbane or on the fringes of
Lorn. He was at Loch Awe nay, he was in the heart
of Argyll itself. The chief waited no longer. He
found a fishing boat, and, the wind being right, fled
down Loch Fyne to the shelter of his castle at Rose-
neath. The same breeze that filled his sails brought
the sound of Alastair's pipes, and he was scarcely
under weigh ere the van of the invaders came down
Glen Shira.
Then began the harrying of Clan Campbell. Leader-
less and unprepared, they made no resistance to Mon-
trose's army of flushed and battle-worn warriors.
Macleans and MacDonalds, Stewarts and Camerons,
satiated their ancient grudges with the plunder of
Inveraray. The kerns thawed their half -frozen limbs
at the warmth of blazing steadings, and appeased
their ravenous hunger at the expense of the bakers
212 ESCAPES AND HUEEIED JOURNEYS
and vintners and fleshers of the burgh. Never had
the broken men of Lochaber and the Isles fared sc
nobly. For some happy weeks they ran riot in what
for them was a land of milk and honey, while the
townsmen, crouching in cellars and thicket s, or safe
behind the castle gates, wondered how long it would be
before their chief returned to avenge them. There
seems to have been no special barbarity about the
business. Here and there a refractory Campbell was
dirked, but Alastair's men preferred victual and cattle
to human blood.
Meantime word had gone from the exile at Bose-
neath to the Government in Edinburgh. It was for
Argyll to avenge the shame of his clan, and he presently
received 1,100 of the flower of the Scottish militia.
His kinsman, Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchinbreck,
was summoned back from Ireland. Seaforth wa
waiting with a northern army at Inverness, and
the Scottish commander-in-chief, William Baillie of
Letham, was at Perth. It looked as if Montrose had
walked into a certain trap. He would be caught be*
tween Argyll and Seaforth, and if he tried to escape
to the right Baillie would await him. It seemed the
certainty on which Argyll loved to gamble.
Mid-winter that year was open and mild. Had it
THE GREAT MOOTROSE 213
been otherwise Clan Campbell must have been annihi-
lated and Montrose could never have led his men
safely out of Argyll. About the middle of January
1645 he gave orders for the march. He had as yet
no news of Argyll's preparations, but he must have
realized that the avenger would not be slow on his
track. His immediate intention was to come to an
account with Seaforth, who not only barred him from
the Gordon country but was responsible for the oppo-
sition of the powerful clan of Mackenzie. He had
guides who promised to show him an easy way out of
Lorn into Lochaber. After that his road ran straight
up the Great Glen to Inverness.
Laden with miscellaneous plunder and cumbered no
doubt with spreaghs of cattle, the Highlanders crossed
from Loch Awe to the shore of Loch Etive. Since
they had nothing to fear in front of them, they con-
tinued up the steep brink of that loch to the site of
the present house of Glen Etive. Crossing the beattach
by the old drove-road they marched through Appin
and up Glencoe to the neighbourhood of Corrour, for
the shorter road by Kingshouse and the Moor of
Rannoch was no place for a heavily laden force in
mid- winter. From Corrour the road was that now
taken by the West Highland Railway. Passing Loch
214 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Treig they descended the valley of the Spean to the
shores of Loch Lochy and the opening of the Great
Glen. By the evening of Thursday, the 30th January,
Montrose was at Kilcumin at the head of Loch Ness.
Most of the Atholl men and the bulk of Clanranald
had left him, after their custom, to deposit their booty.
No more than 1,500 remained Alastair's Irish, a hand-
ful of Stewarts, MacDonalds, Macleans, and Camerons,
and sufficient cavalry to mount the Lowland gentry
and provide an escort for the Standard.
At Kilcumin Montrose had definite news of Seaf orth.
He was thirty miles off at Inverness with 5,000 men
Erasers, Mackenzies, and regulars from the Inverness
garrison. Montrose was preparing to make short work
of Seaforth when he received graver tidings. Ian Lorn
MacDonald, the bard of Keppoch, arrived to tell of
Argyll at his heels. The Campbells were only thirty
miles behind at Inverlochy, 3,000 men-at-arms eager
to avenge the wrongs of Lorn. They were burning
and harrying Glen Spean and Glen Roy and the Loch-
aber braes, and their object was to take Montrose in
the rear what time Seaforth should hold him in the
front.
The plight of the little army seemed hopeless ; 1,500
very weary men were caught between two forces of
THE GREAT MONTEOSE 215
3,000 and 5,000. There was no way of escape to west
or east, for the one would lead them to a bare sea-
coast and the other into the arms of Baillie's foot.
Of the two hostile forces the Campbells were the more
formidable. Montrose knew very well that the fight-
ing spirit of Clan Diarmaid was equal to any in the
Highlands, and now that they were commanded by a
skilled soldier and infuriated by the burning of their
homes, he could scarcely hope to fight them at long
odds. But it is the duty of a good general when he
is confronted by two immediate perils to meet the
greater first. Montrose resolved to fight the Camp-
bells, but to fight them in his own way.
Early on the morning of Friday, 31st January, began
that flank march which remains one of the great
exploits in the history of British arms. The little
river Tarff flows from the Monadliadh Mountains to
Loch Ness. Up its rocky course went Montrose, and
the royal army disappeared into the hills. Scouts of
Argyll or Seaforth who traversed the Great Glen on
that day must have reported no enemy. From Tarff
Montrose crossed the pass to Glen Turritt, and, fol-
lowing it downwards, reached Glen Roy. Pushing on
through the night he came to the Bridge of Roy,
where that stream enters the Spean, on the morning
216 ESCAPES AND HUERIED JOURNEYS
>f Saturday, 1st February. The weather had been
bitterly cold, the upper glens were choked with snow-
drifts, and the army had neither food nor fire. The
road led through places where great avalanches yawned
above the adventurers, and over passes so steep and
narrow that a hundred men could have held an army
at bay. As they struggled along at the pace of a
deerstalker, Montrose walked by his men, shaming
them to endurance by the spectacle of his own
courage. If the reader wishes for a picture of that
miraculous march he will find it in the words of young
Elrigmore in Mr. Neil Munro's John Splendid :
"It was like some hyperborean hell, and we
the doomed wretches sentenced to our eternity of
toil. We had to climb up the shoulder of the hi]!,
now among tremendous rocks, now through water
unfrozen, now upon wind-swept ice, but the snow
the snow the heartless snow was our con-
stant companion. It stood in walls before, it lay
in ramparts round us, it wearied the eye to a most
numbing pain. Unlucky were they who wore
trews, for the same clung damply to knee and
haunch and froze, while the stinging sleet might
flay the naked limb till the blood rose among the
THE GREAT MONTROSE 217
pelt of the kilted, but the suppleness of the joint
was unmarred. ... At the head of Glen Roy the
MacDonalds, who had lost their bauchles of brogues
in the pass, started to a trot, and as the necessity
was we had to take up the pace too. Long lank
hounds, they took the road like deer, their limbs
purple with the cold, their faces pinched to the
aspect of the wolf, their targets and muskets
clattering about them. c There are Campbells to
slay, and suppers to eat,' the major-general had
said ; and it would have given the most spiritless
followers the pith to run till morning across a
strand of rock and pebble. They knew no tiring,
they seemingly felt no pain in their torn and
bleeding feet, but put mile after mile below them."
From Roy bridge to Inverlochy is some thirteen
miles, but to take Argyll in the flank a circuit was
necessary, and Montrose followed the northern slopes
of the wild tangle of mountains, the highest in Britain,
that surround Ben Nevis. In the ruddy gloaming of
the February day the vanguard saw beneath and
before them the towers of Inverlochy, " like a scowl
on the fringe of the wave," and not a mile off the men
of Clan Diarmaid making ready their evening meal*
218 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Shots were exchanged with the pickets, but no efiort
was made to advance. Montrose waited quietly in
the gathering dusk till by eight o'clock the rest of Ms
famished column had arrived. There, supperless and
cold, they passed the night, keeping up a desultory
skirmishing with the Campbell outposts, for Montrose
was in dread lest Argyll should try to escape. It was
a full moon and the dark masses of both armies were
visible to each other. Argyll thought the forces he
saw were only a contingent of Highland raiders under
Keppoch or some petty chief. But after his fashion
he ran no personal risks ; so, with Ms favourite minis-
ter and one or two Edinburgh bailies, he withdrew
to a boat on Loch Eil.
At dawn on Candlemas day his ears were greeted by
an. unwelcome note. It was no bagpipe such as Kep-
poch might use, but trumpets of war, and the salute
they sounded was that reserved for the Royal Standard.
The King's lieutenant, who two days ago was for
certain at Loch Ness, had by some craft of darkness
taken wings and flown his army over the winter hills.
There was no alternative but to fight. Till Montrose
was beaten the Campbells could neither march forward
to join Seaforth nor backward to their own land.
Auchinbreck drew up his forces with the fighting
THE GREAT MONTROSE 219
men of Clan Campbell in tlie centre and the Lowland
regiments borrowed from Baillie on each wing. Mon-
trose himself led the Royalist centre, with Alastair on
the left and Alastair's lieutenant, O'Kean, on the right.
Sir Thomas Ogilvy commanded the little troop of
horse which had managed to make its way with the
infantry over the terrible hills. This was the one ad-
vantage Montrose possessed. Otherwise, his men were
on the point of starvation, having had scarcely a
mouthful for forty-eight hours. He himself and Lord
Airlie breakfasted on a little raw, meal mixed with cold
water, which they ate with their dirks.
The battle began with a movement by Ogilvy's
horse, which gravely disquieted the Lowland wings.
Then the Campbell centre fired a volley, and immedi-
ately the whole Royalist front responded and charged.
We may well believe that the firing of famished men
was wild, but it mattered little, for soon they were
come, as Montrose wrote, " to push of pike and dint
of sword." Alastair and O'Kean had little difficulty
with the Lowland levies. In spite of the experience of
many of them with Leven, a Highland charge was a
new and awful thing to them, and they speedily broke
and fled. Inverlochy was won by strategy, for of
tactics there was little, and that little was elementary,
220 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
The gallant Campbell centre, indeed, made a deter-
mined stand. They knew that they could hope for no
mercy from their ancestral foes, and they were not
forgetful of the honourable traditions of their race.
But in time they also broke. Some rushed into the
loch and tried in vain to reach the galley of their chief,
now fleeing to safety ; some fled to the tower of In-
verlochy. Most scattered along the shore, and on that
blue February noon there was a fierce slaughter from
the mouth of Nevis down ta the mouth of Loch Leven.
The Lowlanders were given quarter, but, in spite of all
his efforts, Montrose could win no mercy for the luck-
less Campbells. The green Diarmaid tartan was a
badge of death that day. On the Royalist side only
four perished ; on the Covenant side the slain out-
numbered the whole of Montrose's army. At least
1,500 fell in the battle and pursuit, and among them
were Auchinbreck himself and forty of the Campbell
barons. Well might Keppoch's bard exult fiercely
over the issue :
*' Through the land of my fathers the Campbells have come.
The flames of their foray enveloped my home ;
Broad Keppoch in ruin is left to deplore,
And my country is waste from the hill to the shore-
Be it so ! by St. Mary, there's comfort in store.
THE GREAT MONTBOSE 221
" Though the braes of Lochaber a desert be made,
And Glen Roy may be lost to the plough and the spade ;
Though the bones of my kindred, unhonoured, unurned,
Mark the desolate path where the Campbells have burned
Be it so I From that foray they never returned."
So ended one of the sternest and swiftest marches
in the history of war. Inverlochy was in one respect
a decisive victory, for it destroyed the clan power of
Argyll, and from its terrible toll the Campbells as a
fighting force never recovered. Alastair's policy was
justified, and the MacDonalds were amply avenged ;
the heather, as the phrase went, was above the gale
at last.* To Montrose at the moment it seemed even
more. He thought that with the galley of Lorn fell
also the blue flag of the Covenant. He wrote straight-
way to the King :
" Give me leave, in all humility, to assure Tour
Majesty that, through God's blessing, I am in the
fairest hopes of reducing this kingdom to Your
Majesty's obedience. And, if the measures I have
concerted with your other loyal subjects fail me
not, which they hardly can, I doubt not before
the end of this summer I shall be able to come to
* The heather is the MacDonald badge, and the gale, or bc^j
myrtle, the Campbell,
222 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Your Majesty's assistance with a brave army,
which, backed with the justice of Your Majesty's
cause, will make the rebels in England, as well as
in Scotland, feel the just rewards of rebellion.
Only give me leave, after I have reduced this
country to Your Majesty's obedience, and con-
quered from Dan to Beersheba, to say to Your
Majesty then, as David's general did to his master,
* Come thou thyself, lest this country be called by
my name/ "
It was not to be. He was to win other astonishing
victories, but before the year closed Philiphaugh was
to be fought and the great adventure was to end in
exile. Five years later, on a May day in the High
Street of Edinburgh, there closed on the gallows the
career of the bravest of Scottish hearts.
vni
THE FHGHT OF LIEUTENANTS PARER
AND M'INTOSH ACROSS THE WORLD
THE FLIGHT OP LIEUTENANTS PARER
AND M1NTOSH ACROSS THE WORLD
the Great Wax there were thousands of hur-
ried journeys made by airmen in the course of their
military duties, and since November 1918 there have
been many adventurous flights against time, in compe-
tition for this or that prize. But the story I propose
to tell is, to my mind, wilder and more inconceivable
than any episode in the history of aircraft in the War.
It was not strictly a journey against time, for though
the two airmen began by intending to compete in the
Australian Flight competition, they were not able
to leave Britain till Sir Ross Smith had reached Port
Darwin. But the element of haste was not wanting,
for all they possessed was a condemned comic-opera
machine, which was rapidly going to pieces on their
hands. Mr. Kipling has told the story of the tramp
Bolivar, and of how that unseaworthy hulk was brought
across the Bay in a state of impending dissolution.
225
226 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
But if the Bolivar " bluffed the eternal sea," D.H.9
for seven months bluffed the powers of the air and
flew, a derelict 'bus, 15,000 miles over land and water,
It seems to me the craziest adventure that ever, by
habitually taking the one chance in ten thousand,
managed to succeed.
Lieutenant Raymond John Paul Parer was the son
of a shopkeeper in Melbourne, a small, slight, dark
man with a considerable turn for mechanics. During
the War he was employed at training aerodromes in
Britain, and was accustomed to fly new machines across
to France. Lieutenant John Cowe M'Intosh was a
large, raw-boned Scot from Banffshire with a rugged
masterful face, who had served through the War with
the Australian forces. To begin with he knew nothing
about air mechanics, and picked up the science as he
went along. The two, being in England after the
Armistice, made up their mind to fly back to Australia.
They had no money, and it occurred to them that they
might earn the 10,000 prize by entering for the Aus-
tralia Flight competition. They received very little
encouragement from the Air Ministry, for both men
were wholly unpractised in long-distance flights, and
had no previous knowledge of the route or of any
language bmt their own. They managed, however, to
FLIGHT OF PARER AND MTNTOSE 227
raise from a friend a little money, and with this they
purchased from the Disposals Board a single-engined
two-seater D.H.9 bombing machine, their intention
being to carry extra petrol in place of bombs. The
engine was a Siddeley-Puma of 240 h.p. Complete
ignorance in their case was the parent of courage.
They were roughly aware of the possible stages by
which they might take their route, and resolved to
nose their way from one to another and trust to luck,
It was like a man in an ill-found and leaky small
boat starting to cross the stormy Atlantic. Almost
every part of their machine had some bad fault
or other of which they were vaguely aware and ex-
pected further news.
They were not long in getting it. On January 8,
1920, they left Hounslow, intending to make the first
landing at Paris. But a contrary wind and a thick
fog forced them to land at Conteville, and when they
reached Paris their petrol pump failed and compelled
them to wait three days. After that they flew to
Lyons, where the pump gave trouble again and delayed
them another two days.
Then came the Gulf of Genoa. But they had hardly
started when their oil ran out and they were com-
pelled to return and fiy 100 miles along the Italian
228 ESCAPES AND HUKRIED JOURNEYS
coast without oil pressure, looking for a landing-place.
Italy presented a series of mischances. The weather
was abominable, and they crossed the Apennines at a
height of 14,000 feet. There they were almost frozen,
and for two and a half hours could see nothing of the
ground. Later, at an altitude of 3,000 feet, their
machine caught fire, and they were compelled to cut
off the petrol and side-slip to land.
Brindisi was at length reached, and they had to face
the crossing of the Adriatic. Somehow or other they
reached Athens, where they had more engine trouble,
and then staggered on to Crete. From Crete they
flew the 220 miles of the Mediterranean to Mersa
Matruh in Western Egypt, and eventually, on 21st
February, reached Cairo.
The scheduled flying time from England to Cairo
is under forty hours; but the trip had taken them
forty-four days. They had now established the
routine of their journey, which was to break down
every day or two, and then patch up the machine
with oddments sufficient to carry it to the next
landing-place, where it fell to pieces again.
For four days at the Helouan aerodrome the two
laboured at their crazy 'bus. Their propeller was
defective ; there were endless carburation troubles ;
FLIGHT OF PARER AND MTOTOSH 229
the bolts propeller, bearer, and cylinder were al-
ways working loose ; magnetos, oil filters, everything,
were imperfect ; the instruments were always fail-
ing, especially the air-speed indicator. And they had
flown all the way to Egypt without cleaning their
plugs !
On 26th February they set off again, making a bee-
line for Bagdad a direct flight which no airman had
ever before accomplished. For the enterprise, and
still more for the continuation of the journey to Aus-
tralia, they had no assets whatever, except a letter
of authority from the General Officer Commanding
R.A.F. Depots, which entitled them to draw for petrol
on any depot along the route between Cairo and Delhi.
It did not seem on the remote edge of possibility that
much use would be made of that letter.
Nevertheless that day they crossed the desert of
Sinai and landed safely at Ramleh. Thence they shaped
their course across Arabia, an adventure in which, as
we have seen, they were in the strictest sense pioneers.
The weather changed to their disadvantage, and they
drove on into head winds and heavy sheets of rain.
A breakdown in the midst of the desert meant either
starvation or robbery, and probably murder, by Arab
tribes, a&d sure enough the breakdown came. They
230 ESCAPES AOT) HURRIED JOURNEYS
were compelled to make a forced landing in the even-
ing, and Lad to spend the night on the ground by their
machine. In the early morning they observed a
crowd of Arabs approaching with obviously hostile
intent. But the two airmen, having dared so much,
were not to be awed by casual Bedouin. They hap-
pened to have some Mills bombs aboard, and with
these and their revolvers they routed the enemy and
kept bJTn at bay until such time as they could start
again.
Bagdad was reached eventually, entirely by luck
and not at all by good guiding. There they were
welcomed by the British air posts, and speeded on
their way across Baluchistan and the Gulf of Kutch
to Karachi, which they reached without mishap on
8th March. In India they fell in with .Captain G. C.
Matthews of the Australian Flying Corps, and in his
Sopwith machine " Wallaby " he accompanied them
across the peninsula to Delhi, where they had a busy
time patching up D.H.9. The old relic was suffering
from almost every ailment to which an aeroplane is
subject. For one thing the central section was begin-
ning to rise above the level of the wings, and they
could only remedy the defect by packing with iron
washers. The fabric, through constant exposure,
FLIGHT OF PARER AKD MTNtTOSH 231
was rotten, and the coats of ordinary motor-car paint
with which it had been treated were peeling oS^in
great patches. It was breaking away, too, all along
the ribs, and they had to renew it there as best they
could. Their first propeller had been damaged by
taking ofi from the desert sands and had been renewed
at Bagdad. Every assistance was given them by
the R.A.F. officers in India, but it was not easy to
patch up the unpatchable.
From Delhi they flew safely across the Bay of Bengal
to Rangoon, but were compelled to make a forced
landing in thick forest on the bank of the Irawaddy
river, which did not improve the condition of D.H.9.
On 4th April they reached Rangoon and flew on
another hundred miles to Moulmein. There, however,
DJEL9 struck work. It crashed, and was so seriously
damaged that they had to sit down quietly for no less
than six weeks before they could resume their jour-
ney. Everything all at once seemed to dissolve into
its parent elements. Their compasses were crocked ;
their radiator was in pieces ; the under-carriage had
at last collapsed completely, and the new propeller
acquired at Bagdad was destroyed. Happily they
managed to get a propeller of the Caproni type from.
a depot established there by the organizers of thi
232 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Rome-ToMo flight. But the propeller had been
designed for a 300 hup. Fiat, and the result of fitting
it to a 240 h.p. Siddeley-Pinna meant a serious over-
running of the engine. It was found, too, that the
diameter of the Caproni "boss" was much larger
than that of the D.H.9 shaft, so the gap was blocked
with a Burmese wood which is so heavy that it will not
float and so hard that it blunts the sharpest tool. A
new under-carriage was constructed out of a tough,
close-grained native timber, which they bought from
a local Chinaman. The wood was seasoned in an
oven, and the new under-carriage was modelled from
the assembled debris of the old one. They impro-
vised a new radiator by taking a couple of ordinary
"Overland" motor-car radiators and bolting them
together !
Thus equipped, after six weeks' delay they started
again, but presently they had another crash a nose-
dive in Batavia. This meant another delay, and a
fourth propeller was got through the efforts of the
British consul and the Dutch authorities. But before
they left Dutch territory they had still another mishap,
and a fifth propeller had to be found. Here the Dutch
Air Force came to the rescue. They sent to their
depot 400 miles away for spares, and provided a new
A crowd of Arabs approaching with obviously
hostile intent.
FLIGHT OF PAEEE AND M'INTOSH 233
under-carriage. Moreover, they lent the travellers two
air mechanics, who worked under their supervision
and managed to bring D.H.9 into some semblance
of working order.
Meantime through these weeks of sojourn in tropical
lands the machine had been converted into a sort of
menagerie, and various strange animals made the
fuselage their home, and only showed themselves
in mid air. Among the beasts which thus added
themselves to the party were bear cubs, a selection
of lizards, several snakes, a whole congregation of
rats and mice, and a baby alligator !
The next stage of the journey the flight to Australia
over 400 miles of sea was the most anxious of all.
It began unpromisingly, for D.H.9 had great diffi-
culty in getting over the mountains of the island of
Timor. When the ocean was reached the travellers
discovered that they had lost their bearings ; but the
intrepid pair pushed on boldly into the unknown.
For eight hours they journeyed in the void, and when
their oil was almost run out they were at last
greeted by the sight of land. On the last day of July,
#ith one pint of petrol left, they landed at Fanny
Bay in the Northern Territory. Next morning, the
1st of August, they reached Port Darwin.
234 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
They had achieved the journey to Australia, but
their troubles were not over. They struggled on to
Sydney, where, at the Mascot aerodrome on 22nd
August, they were welcomed by an immense crowd
of nearly 20,000 people. But Melbourne was their
goal, and on the journey to Melbourne DJEL9 met its
doom. At Culcairn it nose-dived into the earth at
a speed of 70 miles an hour, and only the amazing
luck of the travellers saved their necks. Another
machine was provided for them, and on 31st August
they finished their journey of 15,000 miles by reaching
Flermngton Racecourse at Melbourne. Accompanied
by the battered remnants of D.H.9 they were officially
welcomed by Mr. Hughes, the Commonwealth Prime
Minister, to whom they presented a bottle of whisky,
which they had brought with them intact from London.
A day or two later they were formally received in
Parliament Buildings and each presented with 500.
" The world is richer and better for what you have
done," Mr. Hughes told them, and he spoke the truth.
Their achievement was like the attempts to ascend
Mount Everest utterly useless in any prosaic sense,
but a vindication of the vigour and daring of the
human spirit. The history of aircraft is only begin-
ning, but it is not likely that it will show any feat more
FLIGHT OF PARER AND M'INTOSH 235
wildly temerarious than that of these two amateurs who
drove a crazy machine through every type of weather
and over every type of country from the snowy Apen-
nines to the Malayan forests always in difficulties,
always resourceful and undaunted, till by sheer resolu-
tion they forced reluctant Fortune to yield to their
importunity.
It seems to be the fate of great airmen, after daring
the apparently impossible, to meet disaster in hum-
drum flights. Lieutenant M'lntosh was to go the
way of Sir John Alcock and Sir Ross Smith, for on
29th March of the following year he was killed through
his machine crashing in a sir all town in Western
Australia.
IX
LORD NITHSDALE'S ESCAPE
LORD NITHSDALE'S ESCAPE
THE first of the great Jacobite rebellions, that of 1715,
was grossly mismanaged from the start. The invasion
of England by the Scottish Catholic lords and the
Northumbrian Jacobites came to a dismal close at
Preston, and the Tower of London was soon full of
exalted personages the English Earl of Derwentwater,
who was a grandson of Charles II., and the Scottish
Earls of Wintoun, Nithsdale, and Carnwath, and Lord
Kenmure, who was head of the Galloway Gordons.
The trial of the Jacobite lords was not a masterpiece
of English justice. The method followed was im-
peachment, and it was clear from the start that with a
Protestant House of Commons Catholic rebels had no
kind of chance. Without proper proof they were con-
demned a political, rather than a legal verdict. They
were advised ta plead guilty, which as it turned out
was an unwise course, for thereby they trusted their
lives to the Crown and not to the English law, and
240 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
King George's Government were determined to make
an example of them as a matter of policy. Wintoun
alone refused to plead.
But tlie people of England were more merciful than
their Government, and the popular feeling in favour
of leniency was so strong that Walpole was unable to
send all the lords to the scaffold. For Derwentwater
there could be no mercy ; he was too near in blood to
the royal house. Mthsdale and Kenmure were also
marked for death, partly because they were devouter
Catholics than the others, and partly because of their
great power in the Lowlands. On Thursday, February
23, 1716, the Lord Chancellor signed the warrants
for their execution on the Saturday.
Derwentwater and Kenmure duly lost their heads,
and two famous houses were brought to ruin. But
when the guards arrived to summon Mthsdale to the
scaffold they found that he was gone. This is the
story of his escape.
The Countess of Mthsdale had been Lady Winifred
Herbert, the youngest daughter of the first Marquis
of Powis. At the time she was twenty-six years of
age, a slim young woman with reddish hair and pale
blue eyes. Her family had always been Catholic and
LORD NITHSDALE'S ESCAPE 241
Royalist, and she had shown herself one of the most
ardent of Jacobite ladies.
When the news came of the rout at Preston she was
at Terregles, the home of the Maxwells in Nithsdale.
She realized at once that her husband could expect no
mercy, and that his death must follow his imprison-
ment as certainly as night follows day. It was a bitter
January, with snowdrifts on every road. Without
wasting an hour she set off for the south after burn-
ing incriminating papers. Her only attendant was a
Welsh girl called Evans, from the Powis estates, who
had been her maid since childhood.
The two women and a groom rode through the
wintry country to Newcastle, where they took the
coach for York. Presently the coach stuck in the
snow and word came that all the roads were blocked.
But by offering a large sum Lady Nithsdale managed
to hire horses, and pushed on into the Midlands. The
little company suffered every kind of disaster, but the
lady's resolute spirit overcame them all, and after
some days of weary travel they reached London.
Lady Mthsdale went straight to some of the Scot-
tish great ladies, such as the Duchess of Buccleuch
and the Duchess of Montrose, and heard from them
that the worst might be expected. She realized that
242 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
no appeal could save the prisoner, and that, unless he
could break bar and bolt, in a week she would be a
widow. The first step was to get admission to the
Tower. Walpole refused to let her see her husband
unless she was prepared to share his captivity to the
end. She declined the condition, for she understood
that if she was to do anything she must be free. At
last she succeeded in bribing the keepers, and found
herself in her husband's chamber. As she looked round
she saw that there was no chance of an ordinary escape.
One high barred window gave on the ramparts and
Water Lane, and a sentry was on guard in front. If
Lord Nithsdale were to leave the Tower he must leave
it by the door. That in turn was strongly guarded.
A halberdier stood outside and two sentries with fixed
bayonets, and the stairs and the outer door were
equally well held. Force was out of the question.
The only hope lay in ingenuity.
The weak part of any prison is to be found in. the
human warders, more especially in a place so strong
as the Tower, where the ordinary avenues of escape
are few and difficult. The Lieutenant, trusting in
his walls, was inclined to be negligent. The prison
rules were often disregarded, and the wives and chil-
dren of the officials wandered about the passages at
LORD NTTHSDALE'S ESCAPE 243
will. TMs gave Lady Nithsdale her plan. -She pro-
posed to her husband to dress him up in cap and skirt
and false curls and pass him as a woman through the
soldiers. Very soon she had worked out the details.
She had women friends who would assist : a Miss Hilton,
and the landlady, Mrs. Mills, at her lodging in Drury
Lane. The latter was tall and inclined to be stout,
and a riding-hood that fitted her would fit Lord
Nithsdale, while a red wig would counterfeit Mrs.
Mills's hair. The prisoner's black eyebrows could be
painted out, his chin shaved and his skin rouged.
Lord Nithsdale stubbornly refused. The scheme
seemed to him crazy. How could a stalwart soldier
with a rugged face and a martial stride imitate any
woman ? He might do something with a sword in
his hand, but, raddled and painted, he would only be
a laughing-stock. Far better let his wife get a petition
from him placed in the royal hands. There might
be some hope in that.
Lady Nithsdale pretended to agree, though she
knew well that the Bong's clemency was a broken reed.
For George had given strict orders that no petition
from Lord Nithsdale should be received, and she found
her friends very unwilling to disobey the King and act
as intermediary. Her only hope was to see George
244 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
himself; so she dressed herself in deep black, and,
accompanied "by Miss Hilton, who knew the King by
sight, went to Court. They reached the room "be-
tween the King's apartment and the main drawing-
room, and when George appeared she flung herself
before him. " I am the wretched Countess of Niths-
dale," she cried. The King stepped back, refusing
to take the petition ; but she caught him by the skirt
of Ms coat and poured out her story in French.
George lost his temper, but she would not let go, and
suffered herself to be dragged along the floor to the
drawing-room door. There the officials unclasped her
fingers and released his angry Majesty.
Lord Nithsdale now turned his hopes to the House
of Lords. The Countess went from peer to peer;
but once again she failed. Lord Pembroke, indeed,
who was a kinsman, spoke in favour of the prisoner,
but the thing was hopeless from the start. Nithsdale
was utterly intractable and impenitent, and would
never beg for his life.
Her husband's counsels having failed, it remained
to follow her own. She drove to the Tower and told
all the guards and keepers that Lord Nithsdale's last
petition to the House of Lords had been favourably
received, and that His Majesty was about to listen to
LORD NITHSDALE'S ESCAPE 245
their prayer. The officials congratulated her, for she
had made herself very popular amongst them, and
their friendliness was increased by her gifts. But to
her husband she told the plain truth. The last moment
had come. Next day was Friday, when the King
would answer the petition. If he refused, as he was
certain to do, on Saturday the prisoner would go to
the scaffold.
On that Friday morning she completed her plans
with Mrs. Mills, and as the January dusk drew in Miss
Hilton joined them in Drury Lane and the details
were finally settled. Miss Hilton was to be a friend,
"Mrs. Catherine," and Mrs. Mills another friend,
" Mrs. Betty." With the maid Evans all three would
drive to the Tower, where Evans would wait incon-
spicuously near the Lieutenant's door, and the other
three women would go to the earl's chamber. Miss
Hilton, being slim, was to wear two riding-hoods, her
own and that of Mrs. Mills. When she was in the
room she was to drop her extra clothes and leave at
once. Mrs. Mills was then to go in as " Mrs. Betty,"
wearing a riding-hood to fit the earl. She was to be
weeping bitterly and holding a handkerchief to her
face. Everything depended upon Miss Hilton being
able to slip away quietly ; then Mrs. Mills, having
246 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
diminished in size, was to depart as " Mrs. Catherine,"
while the earl was to go out as " Mrs. Betty." The
vital point was to get the sentries thoroughly confused
as to who had gone in and out.
They drove in a coach to the Tower, and Lady
Nithsdale, in order to keep the others from doleful
anticipations, chattered the whole way. When they
reached the Tower they found several women in the
Council Chamber who had come to see Lady Niths-
dale pass, for they had a suspicion, in spite of her
cheerfulness, that this was the last occasion on which
she would see her husband alive. The presence of
these women, who were all talking together, helped
to confuse the sentries. Lady Nithsdale took in Miss
Hilton first, naming her "Mrs. Catherine." Miss
Hilton at once shed her extra clothing and then left,
Lady Nithsdale accompanying her to the staircase
and crying, " Send my maid to me at once. I must
be dressed without delay or I shall be too late for my
petition." Then Mrs. Mills came up the stairs, a
large fat woman sobbing bitterly and apparently all
confused with grief. She was greeted by the Countess
as " Mrs. Betty," and taken into Lord Nithsdale's
room. There she changed her clothes, dried her tears,
and went out with her head up and a light foot.
LORD NITHSDALE'S ESCAPE 247
" Good-bye, my dear Mrs. Catherine," Lady Niths-
dale cried after her. " Don't omit to send my maid.
She cannot know how late it is. She has forgotten
that I am to present the petition to-night." The
women in the Council Chamber watched Mrs. Mills's
departure with sympathy, and the sentry opened the
door for her to pass.
Now came the great moment. If any single keeper
in the outer room had kept his wits about him the plot
must be discovered. Everything depended upon their
being confused among the women, and believing that
" Mrs. Betty " was still with the Countess in Lord Niths-
dale's chamber. It was nearly dark and in a few
minutes lights would be brought in, and a single candle
would betray them. The Countess took off all her
petticoats save one and tied them round her husband.
There was no time to shave him, so she wrapped
a muffler round his chin. His cheeks were rouged;
false ringlets were tied around his brow ; and a great
riding-hood was put on. Then the Countess opened
the door and led him by the hand. Her voice was now
sharp with anxiety. " For the love of God," she cried,
" my dear Mrs. Betty, run and bring her with you.
You know my lodgings, and if ever you hurried in your
life, hurry now. I am driven mad with this delay/*
248 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
The sentries in the dim light were unsuspicious and
let them pass ; indeed, one of them opened the chamber
door. The Countess slipped behind her husband in
the passage, so that no one looking after him should
see his walk, which was unlike that of any woman
ever born. "Make haste, make haste," she cried,
and then, almost before she had realized it, they had
\
passed the last door and the sentries.
Evans, the maid, was waiting, and, seizing Lord
Nithsdale, alias " Mrs. Betty," by the arm, hurried
"him off to a house near Drury Lane. There he was
dressed in the livery of a servant of the Venetian
Minister, and started for the coast.
The Countess, dreading lest some keeper should
enter her husband's room and find him gone, rushed
back there with a great appearance of distress and
slammed the door. Then for a few minutes she strolled
about with the step of a heavy man, and carried on
an imaginary conversation, imitating his gruff replies.
Now came the last stage. She raised the latch, and,
standing in the doorway so that all the crowd in the
Council Chamber could hear, bade her husband good-
night with every phrase of affection. She declared
that something extraordinary must have happened
to Evans, and that there was nothing for it but to
The sentries in the dim light were unsuspicious and
let them pass.
LORD NITHSDALE'S ESCAPE 249
go herself and see. She added that if the Tower were
open she would come back that night. Anyhow, she
hoped to be with him early in the morning, bringing
him good news. As she spoke she drew the latch-string
through the hole and banged the door. "I pray you,
do not disturb my lord," she said in passing. " Do
not send him candles till he calls for them. He is now
at his prayers." The unsuspicious sentries saluted
her with sympathy. Beyond the outer gate was a
waiting coach in which she drove at once to tell the
Duchess of Montrose what had been done. Meantime
Lord Nithsdale, dressed as an Italian servant, was
posting along the road to Dover, where, next morning,
he found a boat for Calais. It was not long before
Ms wife rejoined him in Borne.
Lady Nithsdale's bold escapade was received by
the people of England with very general approval.
Even the Grovernment, who were beginning to iiave
doubts about the wisdom of their policy, were not
disposed to be too severe on the heroic wife. When
the Duchess of Montrose went to Court next day she
found the King very angry. But the royal anger was
short-lived. Presently he began to laugh. " Upon
my soul," he said, " for a man in my lord's situation
it was the very best thing he could have done."
SIR ROBERT GARY'S RIDE TO
EDINBURGH
SIR ROBERT GARY'S RIDE TO
EDINBURGH
THE history of these islands is strewn with tales of
swift and fateful rides, but as a rule the distances were
short. In old days it was nobody's business to get
in a hurry from Land's End to John o 5 Groats, and
long journeys, even the marches of the Edwards into
Scotland, were leisurely affairs. But though roads
were infamous, horses were as good then as now, and
if a man were called upon for an extended journey
against time he could make a record on horseback
that was scarcely surpassed till the days of steam.
Queen Mary, after the Battle of Langside, rode the
92 miles through the western moorlands to the shores
of the Solway without, as she said, drawing rein,
though I presume there were changes of mount. That,
indeed, is the essence of the business, for no horse
ever foaled can keep its pace beyond a certain limit.
The present writer once, in his youth, rode 75 miles
253
254 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
in the Northern Transvaal at a stretch on one horse ;
but, after the Boer fashion, he off-saddled every two
hours for twenty minutes a thing impossible in a
really hustled journey.
This story tells of the ride of Sir Robert Gary
from London to Edinburgh with the news of the death
of Elizabeth. The distance by any road was little less
than 400 miles, but he probably took short cuts after
he crossed the Border. He did the course in something
under sixty hours a most remarkable achievement.
When William HI. died at 8 a.m. on March 8, 1702,
the news, though sent off at once, did not reach Edin-
burgh till 10 p.m. on llth March 85 hours. Gary's
record was not indeed approached till the days of post-
chaises and flying mails. In 1832 the Reform Bill
passed the Lords at 6.35 a.m. on Saturday, 14th April,
Sixty-five minutes later Mr. Young of The Sun news-
paper left the Strand in a post-chaise and four, with
copies of the paper containing a report of the debate
and the division, and on Sunday, at 7.30 p.m., he
arrived at the house of his agent in Glasgow. The
distance was 403 miles, and it was covered in 35 hours
50 minutes.*
'Five years later, when the completion of Telford's
* Mitchell's OU Glasgow Essays, pp. 195-196,
SIR ROBERT GARY'S RIDE 255
new Carlisle-Glasgow road had reduced the distance to
397 miles, the mail which "brought to Glasgow news
of the death of William IV. left the General Post
Office at 8 p.m. on 20th June and reached Glasgow
at 2 p.m. on 22nd June & total of 42 hours. But till
1832 Gary's record would seem to have held the field.
Now for the story. Sir Robert Gary, who afterwards
became Earl of Monmouth, was the youngest of the
ten sons of Henry Lord Hunsdon, who was a cousin
of Queen Elizabeth. He had a varied and adven-
turous youth. As a very young man he visited Scot-
land with Walsingham, and thus formed his first
acquaintance with King James. The Scottish king
would have taken him into his service; but there
were difficulties with Elizabeth, and young Gary con-
sequently went to the Low Countries with the Earl
of Essex. When Mary of Scots was beheaded he was
chosen to carry Elizabeth's explanations to James in
Scotland, and the following year he was again at
Dumfries with the Scottish king, who was busy sup-
pressing refractory Maxwells. In 1589, being very
hard up, he wagered 2,000 with another courtier that
he would walk the 300 miles to Berwick in twelve
days. He won his bet, and thereafter, he tells us, was
enabled to live for some time at Court like a gentle-
256 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
man. He must have been no mean pedestrian, and
that in an age when the gentry rode too habitually to
walk well.
After that he crossed the Channel again with Essex,
ancTcommanded a regiment with some distinction, so
that he was knighted on the field by his general.
When the French war was ended he found himself
without employment and considerably in debt. He
was lucky enough, however, to be appointed successor
to old Lord Scroop, the Warden of the West Marches.
The Scottish border was at that time divided into
three Wardenships the East Marches, from the sea
to the Great Cheviot ; the Middle Marches, from
Cheviot to the Liddel ; and the West Marches, ex-
tending to the Solway shore.
He was now in his early thirties, and for some years
he led a stirring life, keeping order among the Arm-
strongs, Elliots, and Grahams in the " Debateable
Land." Sir Robert was not the most elevated of
characters ; he was a true courtier, steering the frail
barque of his fortunes with caution and skill in the
difficult waters of the queen's favour. Once he was
sent on a very confidential mission to James at Edin-
burgh, and seeing that the King of Scots must sooner
or later come to the English throne, he laboured to
SIR EGBERT GARY'S RIDE 257
stand well with Mm. Presently he became Deputy-
Warden for his father in the East Marches, and was
given the Captainship of Norham Castle on Tweed.
There he had perpetual troubles with Sir Robert Ker
of Cessford, the ancestor of the Dukes of Roxburghe,
and on the whole got the better of that stalwart Bor-
derer. There seems to have been little ill-will in the
Marches in those days. Both sides laboured to out-
wit the other, but they bore no grudge for failure, and
one month would be harrying each other's lands and
the nest hobnobbing at huntings and festivals. By
and by Sir Robert Ker became his hostage and guest,
and the two grew fast friends.
When Lord Hunsdon died Sir Robert was made
Warden in his father's place, and with the help of the
Fosters, Ridleys, Musgraves, Fenwicks, and Widdring-
tons, exercised a strong, if cautious, rule throughout
the bounds of Cheviot. He led an expedition against
the Armstrongs, who sheltered themselves in the Bog
of Tarras, and by a swift march got in on their rear
and made a large haul of prisoners. Sir Walter Scott.,
in his early journeyings in Liddesdale, found that the
people there had still a tradition of what they called
* fc Gary's raid." It was the most creditable period of
his life, and he seems to have enjoyed it, for there was
258 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
that in the man which delighted in alarums and ex*
cursions.
But once a courtier always a courtier. Throughout
these stirring years Gary was perpetually haunted by
anxiety as to how he stood in the Queen's favour, and
when he could spare the time would go South to show
himself at Court. At the end of the year 1602 he was
in London and found Elizabeth very ill. " She took
me by the hand and wrung it hard, and said, * Young
Robin, I am not well/ and then discoursed with me
of her indisposition and that her heart had been sad
and heavy for ten or twelve days ; and rp. her dis-
course she fetched not so few as forty or fifty great
sighs. I was grieved at first to see her in this plight,
for of all my life before I never knew her fetch a sigh
but when the Queen of Scots was beheaded."
The great Queen was now seventy years of age. All
spring and summer she had been very well and had
gone maying in the Lewisham woods. The Ambassador
of Scotland had been kept waiting in corridors, as if
to announce to his master that the time was far distant
when he could transfer himself to Whitehall. In the
autumn the Court had been especially gay ; but Lord
Worcester had noted that the Queen was failing, and
that in the winter " the tune of Lullaby " would be
SIB ROBERT GARY'S RIDE 259
tlie one wanted. In the middle of January 1603, on
the insistence of her doctors, she moved to Richmond,
where the Court and Council followed her. At first
nothing would persuade her to go to bed ; and when
Nottingham and Cecil insisted she replied that the
word " must " was not used to princes. " Little man,
little man," she cried to Cecil, " if your father had
lived you durst not have said so much ; but you know
I must die and that makes you presumptuous."
On the 22nd of March she was obviously sinking. She
told Nottingham that only a king must succeed her,
and when pressed to be more explicit, added, " Who
should that be but our cousin of Scotland ? " On
Wednesday, 23rd March, she was speechless, and that
afternoon called her Council to her bedchamber. When
she was asked about her successor she put her hand to
her head at the mention of the King of Scots, which
the watchers interpreted to signify acquiescence. The
archbishop and her chaplains remained with her pray-
ing during the night, and at about three on the
morning of the 24th she died.
Gary was in a fever of impatience. He remembered
his old acquaintance with King James, and realized
that whoever took trim the first news of the Queen's
death would stand a good chance of rising high in his
260 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
favour. But he was also aware that the Lords of the
Council would do their best to prevent any unauthor-
ized messenger, and that they certainly would not
authorize him. On the night of the 23rd he went
back to his lodging, leaving word with the servants of
the Queen's household to let him know if it were likely
the Queen would die, and giving the porter an angel
to let him in at any time he called. Between one and
two on Thursday morning he received a message that
the Queen was at the point of death, and he hastened
to the royal apartments. There at first he was for-
bidden entrance, the Lords of the Council having
ordered that none should go in or out except by their
warrant. But a friend managed to get him in, and
passing through the waiting ladies in the ante-chamber
he entered the privy chamber, where the Council was
assembled. The Lords dealt with him brusquely, for
they had divined his intention and forbade him to go
to Scotland till they sent him. He then went to his
brother's room, roused Mm, and made him accompany
frim to the gate. The porter could not refuse, in spite
of the Council's orders, to let out Lord Hunsdon, and
the zealous Sir Robert managed to follow in his train,
Gary was a man of action and did not let the grass
grow under Ms feet. He rode straight to the Knight
SIR ROBERT GARY'S REDE 261
Marshal's lodging by Charing Cross, where he slept till
morning. At nine o'clock he heard that the Lords of
the Council were in the old orchard at Whitehall, and
he sent the Marshal to tell them that he awaited their
commands. They were determined that Gary should
not move ; but they told the Marshal to send for him,
as if they meant to dispatch him, at once to King
James. One of them, however, Lord Banbury, whis-
pered in the Marshal's ear that if Gary came he would
be detained and another sent in his stead. The Mar-
shal met Gary arriving at the gate, and told him the
facts. Gary's mind was made up. He turned, mounted
his horse, and rode for the North.
The start was made between nine and ten o'clock.
The route was probably the Great North Road to Don-
caster, where he slept the night, having covered 155
miles since the morning. Next day he reached his
own house at Widdrington in Northumberland, the
house of the March Warden, having left some very
weary cattle on the road behind him. There he gave
his deputies instructions to see to the peace of the
Borders, and next morning to proclaim James King of
England at Morpeth and Alnwick. At dawn on Satur-
day, the 26th, he took the road again and reached his
Castle of Norham about noon, travelling probably
262 ESCAPES AND HUEEIED JOURNEYS
by the eastern end of the Cheviots and the town of
Wooler.
It was a disastrous morning, for he had a bad fall
and was kicked by his horse on the head, so that he
lost much blood. But Gary was a true moss-trooper^
and though forty-three years of age was as tough in
body as any young Armstrong or Elliot. He did not
tarry at Norham, but set off at once for Edinburgh,
probably by the valley of the Leader and Soutra Hj.ll.
He complains that he was compelled to ride a " soft
pace '' because of his wounds, or he would have been in
Edinburgh early in the evening in time for supper.
He finally arrived at Holyrood about nine or ten,
and found that the King had gone to bed. Crying that
he had great news for the royal ear, he was at once
taken to the King's chamber, where he knelt and saluted
James as monarch of England, Scotland, Ireland, and
France. The King gave him, his hand to kiss and wel-
comed him kindly, listening eagerly to the tale of the
Queen's sickness and death. He asked if there were
any letters from the Council. But Gary explained the
position and how narrowly he had escaped from them.
But he gave the King " a blue ring from a fair lady "
(I presume Queen Elizabeth), on which His Majesty
said, " It is enough. I know by this you are a true
SIR EGBERT GARY'S RIDE 263
messenger." Gary was handed over to Lord Home,
with strict instructions for his entertainment, and the
Bang's own surgeons were sent to look after him.
When he kissed hands on departure, James thus ad-
dressed him: "I know you have lost a near kins-
woman and a loving mistress ; but take here my hand.
I will be as good a master to you, and will requite this
service with honour and reward."
Sir Robert went to bed a happy man, and for a day
or two his fortunes looked roseate. But presently
came the bitter complaint by the Lords of the Council
of his unauthorized performance/ and he realized that
James's gratitude was a brittle thing and that he had
too many competitors for the .royal favour. For a
year or two the poor moss-trooper was under a cloud.
But his tough and wary spirit could not be permanently
eclipsed, and before long he had risen again to favour-
He accompanied Prince Charles and the Duke of Buck-
ingham on their wild visit to Spain, and was given an
earldom by Bang Charles I.
As I have said, his was no very elevated character,
and Ms name lives in English history only because of
his mad three days* ride, which for more than two
hundred years was not equalled.
XI
THE ESCAPE OF PRINCESS CLEMENTINA
THE ESCAPE OF PRINCESS CLEMENTINA
IN the year 1718 the Chevalier de St. George, or, as
some called him, the Old Pretender, after the defeat of
his hopes in Scotland, had retired to Rome. At the
age of thirty he was still a bachelor, but the unhappi-
ness of his condition was due not to his celibacy but
to his misfortunes. The Jacobite campaign of 1715
had proved a disastrous failure ; and although he still
retained the courtesy title of James HI., he was a king
without a realm. While the royal exile was twiddling
his thumbs in the Italian capital, waiting for a better
turn of luck, his friends, seeing that nothing further
was to be gained by the pursuit of Mars, sought the
aid of Cupid. They laid before the Chevalier the
flattering proposal of a marriage with a Princess of
beauty and race. This move was inspired less by
romance than by polities, for a suitable marriage would
not only encourage the waning Jacobite hopes, but
might raise up an heir to the Cause.
267
268 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
The Chevalier readily concurred in the scheme, and
a certain Mr. Charles Wogan was dispatched to the
various European courts to report on a suitable bride
for the Chevalier. Wogan's choice fell on the little
Polish Princess Clementina Sobiesky, daughter of
James Sobiesky of Poland and Edwige Elizabeth
Amelia of the house of Newburgh, and grand-daughter
of the famous John Sobiesky, the " deliverer of Christ-
endom."
The chronicles of the time are loud in the praises of
this lady, her illustrious birth, her qualities of heart
and mind, " her Goodness, Sweetness of Temper, and
other Beauties of a valuable character." She is said
to have been " happy in all the Charms, both of Mind
and Body, her Sex can boast of " ; " the Agreeableness
of Seventeen and the Solidity of Thirty." Her ac-
complishments included Polish, High Dutch, French,
Italian, and English, all of which she spoke so well that
it was difficult to distinguish which of these languages
was the most familiar to her. She was also a young
woman of exemplary piety, and therefore a suitable
bride for a king in exile. Princess Clementina was
only sixteen when the Chevalier and his friends laid
siege to her affections.
It was no ordinary business, for there were many
ESCAPE OF PRINCESS CLEMENTINA 269
hazards and difficulties in the way. The Chevalier
had given his consent to the proposed alliance ; it was
for his friends to see it brought to a successful issue,
and the plan of campaign was left entirely in their
hands. The bridegroom was a mere pawn a willing
pawn in the game. The real difficulty was the House
of Hanover, the inveterate enemy of the Stuart cause,
which was by no means inclined to look with indul-
gence on the proposed alliance. Although the affair
was kept a profound secret, the matter gradually
leaked out ; and George I. of England protested with
such vigour to the Emperor on the folly and danger
of the impending marriage, threatening among other
things to break up the Quadruple Alliance, that Prin-
cess Clementina was arrested at Innsbruck with her
mother and kept there under strict surveillance.
The Chevalier and his friends were in a quandary.
Obviously a man built in the heroic mould was neces-
sary to extricate them from the dilemma. They
bethought them of Wogan, who had been recalled
from his delicate mission on the pretext that it was
impolitic to entrust the matter further to an Irish
Catholic. Wogan was well adapted for this sort of ad-
venture. He was, besides being something of a poet,
a cavalier and a courtier. He had shared the hard
270 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
fortunes of the Chevalier in Scotland, and had suffered
imprisonment for his devotion to the Stuart cause.
Once more the soldier of fortune was called upon to
prove his devotion in a cause no less hazardous.
The Pope, who had been taken into the secret, had
provided Wogan with a passport in the name of the
Comte de Cernes, and forth he fared like a fairy-tale
knight to rescue a distressed princess. Never had
d'Artagnan and his Musketeers a more difficult task.
Wogan duly arrived at Innsbruck in the disguise of a
merchant, and obtained an interview with the Princess
and her mother, who heartily concurred in the pro-
posed plan of a secret " elopement." We next find
him at Ohlau in quest of the Prince Sobiesky, the
lady's father. Here he met with a rebuff. Prince
Sobiesky, a practical man of the world, viewed the
whole affair as midsummer madness, and absolutely
refused to lend his aid or consent to Wogan's scheme.
Wogan was in a quandary, but he did not lose heart.
He had nothing to complain of during his stay with
Prince Sobiesky, for he was well lodged and treated
with the most flattering attentions, but the real business
of the mission hung fire. Still he waited he had long
learned the game of patience and, being a courtier, was
used to waiting. At length a happy accident turned
ESCAPE OF PRINCESS CLEMENTINA 271
the scale in his favour. On New Year's Day, Prince
Sobiesky, as a mark of his esteem, presented his guest
with a magnificent snuff-box, formed of a single tur-
quoise set in gold, a family heirloom, and part of the
treasure found by John Sobiesky in the famous scarlet
pavilion of Kara Mustapha. Wogan, with a charming
gesture, declined the gift on the plea that, although he
was sensible of the high honour shown Mrq by the
Prince, he could not think of returning to Italy with
a present for himself and a refusal for his master. The
Prince was so touched that he finally yielded, and
furnished Wogan with the necessary instructions to
his wife and daughter. Wogan set out once more on
his adventures in high spirits, carrying not only the
precious instructions, but the snuff-box, which Prince
Sobiesky had pressed on him as a parting gift.
The next thing was to establish secret communica-
tion with the Princess. This was more easily said
than done. The garrulity of Prince Sobiesky, who in
his parental agitation had babbled the whole story to
a certain German baron, and the suspicions of the
Countess de Berg, a noted intriguante and spy of the
Austrian court, almost brought Wogan's mission to an
inglorious end. The baron was bought over at " con-
siderable expenditure," but the Countess was a more
272 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
difficult matter. While Wogan was the guest of honour
of Prince Sobiesky she had been puzzled at the atten-
tions shown to him, which she argued could be for no
good end, and set her spies on his track. Wogan
escaped by the skin of Ms teeth, and only evaded
capture by ostentatiously announcing his departure
for Prague. Then by a skilful detour he gave his
pursuers the slip and posted on to Vienna, where he
vainly tried to enlist the sympathy of the Papal
Nuncio, Monseigneur Spinola.
Then came a thunderbolt, for suddenly Prince
Sobiesky changed his mind. He dispatched an urgent
message to Wogan saying that both the Princess and
her mother, alarmed at the dangers that encompassed
them, had resolved to proceed no further in the
business, and that he forthwith cancelled his previous
instructions.
Here was a pretty kettle of fish I Wogan was a
stout-hearted fellow, but this new blow almost un-
manned him. In his dilemma he wrote to the Cheva-
lier and told the whole story, asking him at the same
time to send a confidential servant to obtain fresh
powers from Prince Sobiesky. The Chevalier promptly
dispatched one of Ms valets, a Florentine called
Michael Vezzosi, who, when attached to a Venetian
ESCAPE OF PRINCESS CLEMENTINA 273
Embassy in London, had been instrumental in aiding
the escape of Lord Nithsdale from the Tower. The
Chevalier reminded Prince Sobiesky that by his f oolish
behaviour he was not only needlessly endangering the
lives of Wogan and his friends, but adding to the
difficulties of the captives at Innsbruck. He also gave
the most explicit instructions to Wogan to proceed
with the enterprise.
Wogan accordingly set out for Sehlettstadt, where
he met his three kinsmen, Major Gaydon and Captains
Misset and O'Toole, who were to lend their aid in
the now difficult mission. Mrs. Misset accompanied
her husband, together with her maid Jeanneton, but
neither of the women was told the real nature of the
undertaking. Jeanneton was to play a conspicuous
part in the escape of Clementina. Wogan's plan was
that the maid should change places with the Princess
and generally impersonate her till she had made good
her escape. The light-headed girl was told a cock-and-
bull story about O'Toole having fallen violently in
love with a beautiful heiress, and Wogan played to
such a tune on her sense of the romantic that she
gleefully entered into the plot of the " elopement."
Wogan, however} was not yet out of the wood, So
far he had succeeded, but he had now to deal with the
274 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
whims and caprice of the ladies wlio liad been pressed
into the enterprise. Jeanneton, whose importance to
the success of the venture was paramount, proved
especially troublesome. First of all she refused point-
blank to wear the low-heeled shoes wMch had been
specially ordered for her, so as to reduce her height to
conformity with that of the Princess ; and not only
screamed and swore, but went so far in her tantrums
as to knock the shoemaker down. She had once been
a camp-follower, and her manners were those of the
tented field. It was not until Mrs. Misset, in an excess
of despair, had thrown herself imploringly at her feet,
a ceremony in which the gentlemen of the party were
constrained to join, that the maid relented, and the
party set forth at last in a ramshackle berline for
Innsbruck.
So far so good. At an inn between Nassereith and
Innsbruck, while the other members of the party
regaled themselves with a banquet of wild boar and
sauerkraut, Wogan stole out in the rain to keep an
important appointment with a certain M. Chateau-
doux, gentleman-usher to the Princess Sobiesky. This
gentleman had not Wogan's spirit, and proposed to
defer the matter of the escape till the weather had
cleared and the roads were in better condition for travel.
ESCAPE OF PRINCESS CLEMENTINA 275
Wogan firmly waived aside Ms objections, and suc-
ceeded so well in convincing TITTTI that now or never
was the time, that at half -past eleven that same night
he and the precious Jeanneton made their way in the
storm to the schloss where the Princess was confined.
Fortune smiled on the enterprise, and even the tem-
pest was propitious, for the sentry, heedless of danger
on such a night, had sought refuge in the inn.
Meanwhile within the prison walls the Princess
Clementina, in order to assist the plan of escape, was
playing the part of an invalid. Jeanneton's role was
simple. The Princess having regained her freedom,
all that the maid had to do was to keep her bed on the
plea that her megrims were no better, refusing to see
any one but her mother. The secret was well kept ;
not even the governess waa. told, lest her grief at the
sudden departure of the Princess might arouse sus-
picions.
At midnight, according to plan, Chateaudoux was in
readiness, and Jeanneton, clad in a shabby riding hood
and female surtout, was successfully smuggled into
the sleeping chamber of the Princess. Wogan and
O'Toole waited at the street corner ready to convoy
the Princess to the inn. There was a lengthy farewell
scene, between the Princess and her mother. The two
276 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
having wept and embraced each other, Clementina
excused herself for her hurried departure on the plea
that nothing in heaven or earth must stand in the
way between her and her husband. Then she hastily
dressed herself in Jeanneton's clothes, and followed
Chateaudoux down the winding stairs and out into
the night.
The Princess was no longer a captive. The tempest,
which had increased, favoured the escape. Once more
successfully evading the sentry, 'they quickly gained
the street corner where Wogan and O'Toole were
kicking their heels, consumed with fear and anxiety.
They reached the inn, drenched to the skin, with but
one slight misadventure. Clementina, mistaking a
floating wisp of hay for a solid log of wood, slipped
and plunged over the ankles into a channel of half-
melted snow. At the inn she eagerly swallowed a
cup of hot spiced wine and changed her soaking gar-
ments, Konski, her mother's page, had foUowed
meanwhile with what the chronicles of the period
call "inside apparel" and a casket containing her
jewels, said to be valued at about 150,000 pistoles. The
foolish Konski, no doubt scared out of his wits at his
share in the adventure, had thrown the precious packet
behind the door and taken ignomirtiously to his heels,
ESCAPE OF PRINCESS CLEMENTINA 277
They were now ready for the road. Captain Misset,
who had gone out to reconnoitre, having returned
with a favourable report, off they started. The inn
was silent and shuttered, everybody having retired
for the night including the landlady; so they stole
off unobserved. As the ancient coach lumbered past
the dismal schloss where the Princess had been so
recently a prisoner, she could not restrain some natural
emotion at the thought of her mother; and then
suddenly she discovered the loss of the precious packet.
Here was a nice to-do ! There was nothing for it
but to return to the inn and fetch the packet. O'Toole
was entrusted with this anxious mission. By one
more stroke of good fortune he succeeded in retrieving
it from behind the door where the careless Konski
had thrown it, but he had first to prise the door off
its crazy hinges.
At sunset the party reached the village of Brenner,
where the Princess, who had so far borne up nobly,
had a slight attack of the vapours. She was speedily
revived, however, by a dose of eau de Cannes, and,
having had a meal, soon regained her accustomed
gaiety, and began to ply Wogan with all sorts of inno-
cent questions about the manners and customs of the
English and his adventures with the Chevalier in
278 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
Scotland. One by one the party dropped off to sleep,
all but Wogan, who as the Master of the Ceremonies,
managed to keep himself awake by the expedient of
taking prodigious pinches of snuff. At last even he,
overcome by the ardours of the night, began to show
signs of drowsiness. While dropping off to sleep, his
snuff-box accidentally slipped from his lap and fell
on to the curls of the Princess, who with her head rest-
ing against his knees was reposing at the bottom of
the carriage.
Verona was still a journey of forty-six hours, and
the party were much inconvenienced by the lack of
post-horses. To their horror they discovered that
they were travelling in the wake of the Princess of
Baden and her son, one of the husbands who had been
proposed for Clementina, and whom she had heen
actually bribed to marry ! At another stage of the
journey the coachman was drunk, and they were only
saved by a miracle from being dashed to pieces at
the foot of one of the precipitous gorges of the Adige.
They were now approaching the most difficult
part of the journey, and it was arranged before they
passed the frontier of the Venetian States that O'Toole
and Misset should remain behind to intercept any
messengers from Innsbruck and guard the retreat.
ESCAPE OF PRINCESS CLEMENTINA 279
This prescience was amply rewarded. O'Toole tad
soon the satisfaction of waylaying a courier who had
been dispatched in hot pursuit of the fugitive. The
fellow was not only put entirely off the scent, but
at supper was plied so generously with old brandy
that he had to be carried drunk to bed. Having re-
lieved him of his documents the cavaliers rode on to
rejoin the party in the berline.
One or two trials had still to be overcome. At
Trent there was some delay owing to the behaviour
of a surly Governor who put every obstacle in their
way. There was besides the continual fear of Clemen-
tina being detected by her Highness of Baden, who had
installed herself in state at the inn. The poor little
Princess had perforce to remain hidden at the bottom
of the coach in the public square until such time as they
could obtain fresh relays. The best they could find
was a couple of tired screws taken from a neighbouring
field. At Roveredo things were even worse, as no
horses were to be had at all ; and to crown their mis-
fortunes they had not proceeded six miles with their
weary beasts when the axle of the ramshackle old
berline broke !
But at length they reached the great white wall
that denoted the boundary between the Venetian
280 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
States and the dominions of tlie Emperor. At half-
past three in the morning they stole across the fron-
tier and solemnly offered up a Te Deum for their safe
deliverance. They reached Pery with the bells merrily
tinging for Mass, and narrowly missed being recognized
by the Princess of Baden, who with her son was just
entering the church when the berline drew up at the
church door.
Verona was reached at dusk, and here for the first
time during the three days' journey the Princess had
her hair dressed. They came to Bologna on 2nd May,
where the Princess sent a message to the Cardinal
Origo announcing her arrival. The Cardinal speedily
repaired to pay his respects, bringing the present of
a "toyley, artificial flowers, and other little things,"
and the offer of a box at the Opera. More welcome
and important than the courtesies of the Cardinal
was the arrival of Mr. Murray, the Chevalier's agent,
with messages from his royal master.
The drama of the royal elopement draws to its
close. On 9th May Clementina was married by proxy.
The little Princess, all agog with excitement, rose
at 5 a.m., and having attired herself in a white dress
and a pearl necklace went to Mass and received
the Holy Communion* The marriage ceremony was
ESCAPE OF PRINCESS CLEMENTINA 281
performed by an English, priest. The Chevalier
represented by Mr. Murray, with Wogan as witness,
and Prince Sobiesky by the Marquis of Monte-Bou-
larois, a loyal friend of the Stuart cause. The
" powers " of the Chevalier were read publicly on con-
clusion of the Mass, setting forth his willingness to
marry the Princess Clementina Sobiesky, and the cere-
mony was forthwith performed with the ring which
he had sent expressly for the purpose.
The Princess entered Rome on 15th May, amid
general rejoicings ; and on 2nd September a public
marriage was celebrated at Montefiascone.
The daring flight and escape of the Princess Clemen-
tina caused some sensation at the time, and a medal
was struck to commemorate the event. The Che-
valier created Wogan a baronet, as well as his three
kinsmen, and Wogan had the further distinction of
being made a Roman Senator by Pope Clement XI.
Jeanneton, who had played her part well, apart
from the regrettable incident of the low-heeled shoes,
duly escaped from Innsbruck and was sent to Rome
as the maid of the Duchess of Parma. Prince Sobiesky
was exiled to Passau by the Emperor for his complicity
in the business, and was also deprived of a couple of
valuable duchies. Wogan, who had always been
282 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
something of a poet, devoted the remainder of his life
to the cultivation of the Muse, his efforts drawing
encomiums from so severe a critic as Dean Swift, to
whom he had sent a copy of his verses in " a bag of
green velvet embroidered in gold." He died in 1747.
As for the Princess, her wedded life did not fulfil
the romantic promise of its beginnings. Married to
a worthy but doleful husband, she never sat on the
throne which she had been promised. She was the
mother of Prince Charles Edward, and seems to have
fallen into delicate health, for in one of his boyish
letters, the little Prince promises not to jump or maker
a noise so as to " disturb mamma."
xn
ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD
ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD
THE land between the deserts of Turkestan and the
plains of India and between the Persian plateau and
China still remains the least known and the most
difficult on the globe. There are to be found the
highest mountains in the world a confusion of mighty
snow-clad ranges varied by icy uplands and deep-cut,
inaccessible valleys. Old roads cross it which have
been caravan routes since the days of Alexander the
Great, but these roads are few and far between. One,
perhaps the most famous, goes from Kashmir across
the Indus and over the Karakoram Pass to Khotan
and Yarkand. That pass is 18,550 feet, the highest
in the world which still serves the purpose of an
avenue of trade.
This wild upland is not the place where one would
look for hurried journeys. The country is too intri-
cate, the inhabitants are too few, and there man's
life seems a trifling thing against the background
285
286 ESCAPES AND ETJRRIED JOURNEYS
of eternal ice. Yet I have heard of two long, stub-
born chases in that no-man's-land, the tale of which
is worth telling.
The first concerns the Karakoram Pass. Till the
other day, on the cairn which marked the summit,
there lay a marble slab engraved with a man's name.
It recorded a murder which took place in that out-
landish spot in the year 1880.
At that time in those parts there was a young Scots-
man called Dalgleish, who used to accompany travellers
and hunters on their expeditions. He was also a
trader, making long journeys across Central Asia,
and in his business had dealings with a certain Pathan
called Dad Mahomed Khan. This Pathan had been
a trader and a bit of a smuggler, and was well known
on the road between Yarkand and Ladakh. The two
used to have ventures together, and were apparently
good friends.
A year or two before Dalgleish had gone off on a
long expedition into Tibet, and in his absence things
went badly with Dad Mahomed. All Ms ponies
were destroyed in a storm in the passes, and thia
ON THE ROOF OP THE WORLD 287
compelled him to resort to Hindu money-lenders.
Luck continued obstinately against Mm, and he found
iiniself unable to repay Ms loans. The result was that
his creditor' brought the matter before the British
Commissioi er at Leh, and he was forbidden to trade
on the Yarkand-Leh road until he had paid his
debts.
The upshot was that the Pathan fell into evil ways,
and Dalgleish, when he returned from his expedition,
found Mm living at Leh in idleness and poverty.
Desiring to help his old colleague, Dalgleish invited
him to join Mm, and tried to get the Commissioner
to withdraw the injunction. But the Commissioner
refused, so Dalgleish set off alone for the north with
a small caravan. On the way he halted and wrote
back to Dad Mahomed, asking Mm to follow him.
This the Pathan did, and the two continued on
the long road up the Karakoram Pass. Dalgleish
gave Dad Mahomed a tent and a riding horse, and
instructed Ms servants to treat bi-m as they treated
Mmself.
They camped north of the Karakoram Pass, and
one afternoon were observed to walk out together,
the Pathan carrying Dalgleish's rifle. Then came
the sound of a shot, but the servants took no notice,
288 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
as game was plentiful around the camp. Presently
however, Dad Mahomed returned and informed them
that he had shot the Sahib. The servants ran to
their master, and Dad Mahomed followed, having
provided himself with a tulwar. Dalgleish was only
wounded in the shoulder, and the Pathan then attacked
frim and brutally murdered him. He drove back the
servants to their tent, warning them that if they left
it he would kill them.
Dad Mahomed took possession of Dalgleish's tent,
and in the morning ordered the horses to be loaded
and the caravan to proceed. At the end of the next
stage he told the servants that they could do what
they liked with the merchandise, and he himself rode
off on Dalgleish's horse. What the motive for the
murder was it is impossible to say ; it could not have
been robbery, for Dalgleish had a large sum in notes
which was found untouched. The servants took the
caravan back to the Karakoram Pass, picked up
Dalgleish' s body, and returned to Leh.
The British Raj now took up the case. Dad Ma-
homed was found guilty of murder, and a large reward
was offered for his capture. But to find a Pathan
who had had many days' start in Central Asia was
like looking for a needle in a haystack. Nevertheless,
ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD 289
It was essential for British prestige that the murderer
should be found.
Colonel Bower, the well-known traveller, was at
that time at Kashgar, where he received a letter from
the Indian Government bidding Mm arrest Dad Ma-
homed at all costs and bring him back to India for
trial. It appeared that Dad Mahomed had been
recently in Kashgar boasting of his deed. The Chinese
authorities did not molest Mm, and it was found
impossible to entice him inside the grounds of the
Russian Consulate.
Colonel Bower's mission was kept a profound secret.
The Pathan appeared to have left Kashgar, going
east, some weeks before. A Hindu merchant was
discovered who had a bitter hatred of the murderer,
and plans were concerted. Emissaries were sent
throughout Central Asia to make inquiry. They
were furnished with letters explaining their purpose,
but these letters were only to be used when they
found their man; otherwise their inquiries must
be made secretly, and they had to pose as ordinary
travellers.
Two of them went into Afghanistan, a troublesome
country to journey in. They were arrested in Balkh,
and declared that they were doctors looking for rare
290 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
plants. Fortunately the Amir, Abdur Rahman, hap-
pened to be close at hand, and the two men asked to
be taken before him. They gave him Colonel Bower's
letter to read, and the Amir smiled grimly. These
men, he told his entourage, are honest and are what
they profess to be. They will not, however, find the
plant they seek in Afghanistan; but, he added, he
had heard that it grew in Bokhara. The two were
released and given presents of money and clothes.
Colonel Bower himself had gone east from Kashgar,
on the trail which the Pathan was believed to have
taken. One day a man came to his camp and asked
his nationality. Bower said he came from India, and
ids visitor expressed his astonishment, for he thought
that the people of India were black. He added that in
the neighbourhood theie was another foreigner, and
nobody knew where he carro from a tall man not
unlike the Sahib. He lived in the jungle and earned
money by wood-cutting. This convinced Bower that
he was on the track of the fugitive, but when he reached
the place mentioned his man was gone. The news
of the arrival of an Englishman from India had been
enough for Dad Mahomed.
Months passed and nothing happened, and Colonel
Bower had begun to think his task hopeless, when
ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD 291
suddenly there came news from Samarkand that the
Pathan had been caught there and was now in a Rus-
sian prison. Two of the emissaries who had gone
in that direction had arrived in Samarkand, and had
found Dad Mahomed sitting on a box in the bazaar.
One of them stopped and engaged him in conversa-
tion, while the other went off to the Governor, who
happened to be the famous General Kuropatkin.
Kuropatkin, on opening Bower's letter, at once sent
a party of Cossacks to the bazaar and had Dad
Mahomed arrested.
It was arranged to send him to India, and prepara-
tions were made for an armed escort to bring hin back
over the Russian border ; but news arrived that the
criminal had cheated justice, for he had hung himself
in his cell. Nevertheless the power of itr British
law was vindicated, and the story of the unrelenting
pursuit throughout Central Asia had an immense moral
effect in all that mountain country. The tale of it
was repeated at camp-fires and bazaars everywhere
between Persia and China, till the Great War, with its
far wilder romances, came to dim its memory.
292 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
II
The break-up of Russia after tlie Bolsheviks seized
the Government had extraordinary results in every
part of the old Russian Empire, but in none more
extraordinary than in the Central Asian Provinces.
It was like some strange chemical dropped into an
innocent compound and altering every constituent.
The old cradle of the Aryan races was in an uproar.
In the ancient khanates of Bokhara and Samarkand
names sung in poetry for two thousand years <
strange governments arose, talking half-understood
Western communism. Everywhere the ferment was
felt : in Tashkend, in Yarkand, in Afghanistan, in the
Pamirs, and along the Indian border. Austrian and
German prisoners set free in Siberia were trying to
fight their way towards the Caspian ; tribes of brigands
seized the occasion for guerrilla warfare and general
looting ; and Bolshevik propaganda penetrated by
strange channels through the passes into India. The
Armistice in Europe made very little difference to this
pandemonium. Central Asia was in a confusion which
it had scarcely known since the days of Tamerlane.
In this witches' sabbath of disaster appeared one
or two British officers striving to keep the King's
ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD 293
peace on and beyond the frontier. One of these,
Captain L. V. S. Blacker, had been badly wounded
in the Flying Corps in France. Then he rejoined
his old regiment, ike Guides ; and in July 1918 was in
lashkend looking af xer Bratish interests in the face
of a parody of Government which called itself a Soviet.
After that he made his way south into the Pamirs
and fetched up at Tashkurghan, on one of the sources
of the Yarkand River. He had with him seven men
of the Guides.
There he heard from an Afghan merchant that about
a hundred armed men Afghans, but probably led by
Germans and Turks had been seen in the upper
gorges of the Tashkurghan River. * This matter
required looking into. Having only seven men he
went to the little Russian fort adjoining and succeeded
in borrowing twelve Cossacks. The place was in the
Chinese Pamirs and the local Amban was trouble-
some about horses, but Captain Blacker managed
to raise sufficient from Hindu traders. Mounted on
their ponies, and with a single pack-horse carrying
rations, the expedition started by descending the
* Captain. Blacker has told this story in his excellent book, On
Secret Patrol in High Asia (John Murray), one of the best narrativea
&f adventure published in recent years.
294 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
river till a place was found where it could be forded.
They reached the spot where the enemy band had
been last heard of, but found no tracks on the goat-
path leading up to the high passes. But this was pro-
bably the direction of the enemy, so they crossed the
ridge which divided their valley from Taghdumbash.
It was late October and bitterly cold on the high
hills. At a village called Wacha they still found no
tracks of the band, so they halted tV-re and sent out
patrols along the possible routes. K'ext morning
they decided that the Cossacks should stop at Wacha,
while Captain Blacker and his Guides crossed the ridge
back to Taghdumbash to try and pick up the trail.
Their journey took them over a high pass, called
"The Thieves' Pass," and as the weather was fine
their spirits rose. Still there was no sign of the
enemy, and they were compelled to go back to Tash-
kurghan and spend the night there in a house.
Early next morning they started again for Dafdar,
and covered the forty miles thither in eight hours. In
these high latitudes even a Kirghiz pony cannot manage
more than five miles an hour. At Dafdar they hunted
up the Beg and from him they had news. Fifteen wild-
looking strangers, mounted on big horses and with
rifles at their backs, had several nights before ridden
ON THE ROOF OE THE WORLD 295
through the village, and a shepherd had recently
seen their tracks in a patch of snow. Clearly it was
the gang who had come from the Russian Pamirs,
for ordinary traders do not travel in that guise, or,
indeed, travel these roads at all in early winter. They
might be opium smugglers, or smugglers of Bolshevik
propaganda, or enemy agents commissioned to make
trouble in North India. Anyhow, it was Captain
Slacker's business to round them up and make
certain.
That night he sent one of his N.C.O.s sixteen males
up the valley on the roaci to India, where there was
a post of the Gilgit Scouts, with instructions to
beg half a dozen rifles and a pony-load of barley
meal. The rendezvous was fixed on the IH-Su upland.
Next morning, accordingly, the expedition was joined
by half a dozen men of the Scouts a wild lot with
their Dard caps, and their long hair, and their un-
tanned leggings. The Gilgit Scouts did not bother
with transport, but came with what they stood up in.
Ten screws from Daf dar were commandeered and loads
were made up ; and, says Captain Blacker, " each
man strapped his sheepskin coat and a blanket to
the strait saddle-tree of the Pamir, filled his mess-tin
and his oil bottle, thrust a length of c 4 by 2 * in his
296 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
haversack, and was ready for an eight-hundred mile
hunt through desolation."
The weather had changed and the leaden sky pro-
mised snow. All around were the snowy Mustagh
peaks, rising to 25,000 feet and more, while before
lay a wind-swept icy tableland. It was hard going
in such weather, and they took five hours to reach
the banks of the Oprang River. There they found
a Kirghiz encampment, and learned from them that,
seven nights before, fifteen well-mounted men had
filed past the tents in the darkness. A night was
spent in the encampment, and there arrived the
N.C.O. who had been sent to the post of the Gilgit
Scouts, bringing with him ponies and part of the
barley meal.
It was snowing in the morning, and pushing up the
Ei-Su valley they found on the shale of the ravines
clearly marked tracks of men. It was a severe climb,
for the slopes were ice-coated, and the ponies had to
be dragged up to the crest of the pass. On the top
once more they came on the prints of men and horses
prints which they were to know pretty exactly
during the next fourteen days. The pass of Hi-Su
was some 17,000 feet. The farther valley proved very-
rough ; but late in the afternoon it opened out, and
ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD 297
the night was spent in wet snow tinder a cliff,
enough brushwood could be found to make a fire.
Every night it was necessary to cook enough barley
scones to serve for the next day.
The following morning the snow was falling reso-
lutely, but they pursued the course down the steep
banks of the stream. The enemy tracks were still
clear, and it was plain that their mounts were the big
horses of Badakshan. The band had a long start,
and the only chance of catching them up was to start
very early and finish very late no light task in such
weather and in such a country. Farther down the
valley they found the ashes of a fire and a new china
tea cup lately broken in half, with, on the bottom,
the legend " Made in Japan." It was certain now
that they were on the right road ; for Kirghiz shepherds
do not own china cups. Where was the band heading ?
Not for India probably for Yarkand ; possibly for
some place still farther east. It was therefore neces-
sary for Captain Blacker to turn south-east up the
Raskam River, and plunge into the wild tangle of the
Karakoram mountains.
After eight hours' hard going they came to a place
called Hot Springs, where once more they found
traces of their quarry, some horses' droppings, a heap
298 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
of pigeons 5 feathers, and some empty cartridge cases.
After that the cliff sides closed in and they struggled
for hours in the darkness through a narrow gorge,
till they came to a place at a lower altitude where
there were brushwood for fire and grass to cut for
bedding.
Off again next morning ; still up the Raskam valley
with the great buttresses of the Kuen-lun on the
north bank, and far away on the right the slopes of
the Mustagh. If the tracks led up the river bank
the enemy was bound for Khotan ; if across the stream,
for Yarkand. Apparently they crossed, and it was no
easy matter following them, for the river was swollen
with snow. On the other side with some difficulty
they picked up the trail again, and found it moving
towards the slopes of the Kuen-lun. Clearly the
enemy was bound for Yarkand or Karghalik.
They had a tough climb to the top of the pass, and
once more the trackers were at fault. Some tracks
led eastward to the edge of a dizzy precipice, which
was clearly not the way. Others, however, plunged
down a slope into a gorge full of thorns, and there
they discovered traces of the enemy's bivouac. Thia
was at midday, which showed that the pursuit was
gaining.
ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD 299
In the afternoon they fought their way through
a tangle of undergrowth till they arrived at a Kir-
ghiz encampment, where they managed to buy barley.
In one tent they found a young Kirghiz lad whom
they took along with them as a guide. As it turned
out, his father was guiding the enemy.
The expedition was now in better spirits, for they
had food in their saddle-bags and knew that they
were not bound for the icy deserts of the Karakoranx
Down a little north-running valley they went, and
again they came upon dung, which they judged to
be five days old. The tracks led down the valley,
and suddenly ceased abruptly. Was it possible that
the gang were hiding in the neighbouring brushwood ?
They beat the place in vain, and were compelled to
return the way they had come. Then they discovered
a narrow cleft in the rocks, which proved to be the
mouth of a side Valley, and in it they again came on
the trail.
The night was spent on a tiny patch of grass under
the cliffs, while their meal was of girdle cakes made
with the newly bought barley, and some of the last
of their tea, " A cheerful spot," says Captain Blacker,
"but better, at any rate, than the trenches before
La Bassee in February 1915."
300 ESCAPES AND HUERIED JOURNEYS
Next day they still climbed, and at midday found
more relics of the enemy, a copper kettle, a cauldron,
and a goatskin full of butter, which had apparently
been too heavy to carry. Then they crossed a very
lofty snow-pass, and before them saw the steep ranges
of the Kuen-lun. Down one ridge and up another
they went, still following the track, and at one stop-
ping-place they found a dead quail and a straw cage.
This proved that there was at least one Pathan in
the gang, for it is the Pathan's endearing habit to
carry tame birds in the folds of his raiment.
They were now in a perfectly desolate upland with-
out grass or water or fuel, and their food was rapidly
failing. They had one and a half day's rations in
hand, consisting only of barley flour and a very little
tea and sugar. A lucky shot by Captain Blacker at
a young burhal the day before had given them some
meat, but this was all they had had for a week. The
country too, was becoming desperately rocky. If the
Pamirs was the roof of the world it seemed to Cap-
tain Blacker that he was now climbing among the
chimney-pots. Sometimes on the summit of a pass
they had to dig with hands and bayonets a way for
the ponies. The ponies, too, began to die.
At last, after several days' severe labour, they
ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD 301
descended from the heights to gentler elevations,
and found Kirghiz encampments, where they could
get fresh barley and now and then a sheep. They
were on the lower foot-hills of the Kuen-lun now, and
were looking again at fields and crops. They were
able also to acquire fresh horses. Up a long valley
they went, still finding traces of the enemy's bivouacs.
They had to stop sometimes to mend their footgear
with yak's hide ; and they had now and then a piece
of luck, as where they came to the house of a certain
Kirghiz Beg, who lent them guides. Once again
they had mountains to cross, lower passes but rockier,
and breaking down into deep gorges. Often they
marched fifteen hours in a day.
At last they reached a village where they had in-
telligence of the enemy. They learned that the gang
were only forty-eight hours ahead, which meant that
thay had gained five or six days on them in the last
eight. The destination was clearly Yarkand, and
there was always a risk of losing them in that city.
Here, too, the trail gave out, for the sheep and goats
of the villagers had smothered it, so they had to hire
a guide.
But the way he led them showed no tracks. They
could only push on and hope to cut the trail again
302 ESCAPES AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
from the eastward. After crossing a pass of 15,000 feet
they came to a narrow valley, which led them to the
river Pokhpu, running north and south. No vestige
of a trail, however, could be found on its banks, so
they forded the stream and ascended a gorge upon
the other side. This took them over a 15,000 feet
ridge and down into another valley and then into
another. It ended in a gigantic chasm where in the
moonlight a huge excrescence of rock showed exactly
like an ace of spades. Captain Blacker took this
for a good omen; but there was still a fourth pass
to cross, and at four in the morning the expedition
flung itself down, utterly exhausted, in a waterless
valley called after the Angel Gabriel. In that single
day's march they had climbed up and down something
like 30,000 feet from seven o'clock of one morning
to four o'clock of the next.
The ace of spades had not misled them, for soon
after they started they met an old Kirghiz a Hadji
by his green turban. He was rather taken aback
by the sight of them, bat said he had been sent by a
Chinese mandarin to meet a certain guest. This made
Captain Blacker suspicious, so he boldly answered
that he was the guest in question. The old Hadji
was added to the party , and conducted them to the
ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD 303
village of Kokyir, where they had at last a reasonable
meal.
At midnight again they were off, after five hours'
sleep, marching north-eastward by the compass, and
hoping to get back on the trail they had lost. Pres-
ently they were among the sand dunes of a desert, and
then among the irrigation channels of the lower Ras-
kam River. It was midnight when they found them-
selves in the latter labyrinth ; so Captain Blacker
ordered the Hadji to find some one without delay who
would show him the way out. It was an unfortunate
step, for it landed them in a leper-house. There
was nothing for it but to march on through the night,
and in the small hours of the next morning they were
within sight of Yarkand.
There, early in the forenoon, the expedition, now
lean, weather-beaten, and tattered to the last degree,
stood outside the ancient walls of Yarkand. One of
the Guides entered the city, disguised, to find an
acquaintance, from whom he heard to his delight
that a party of wild-looking strangers had entered
the streets eighteen hours before. Indeed, the man
knew where they were. They were now in the Sarai
Badakshan. Captain Blacker had not ridden hard
for a fortnight among the wildest mountains on earth
304 ESCAPES' AND HURRIED JOURNEYS
to stand on ceremony in any town. His sixteen men
cantered down the alleys of Yarkand, and presently
flung open the gates of the Sarai.
There the quarry was found. Every hand in the
Sarai went up without delay when its inmates heard
the challenge, and saw behind the gleaming bayonets
the sixteen gaunt, wolfish faces of their pursuers.
THE EKD
$
114280